


Ray of Hope

by zeeazn5525



Series: The Essential Rays of Prolonged Existence [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: 30 Days Prompt, Alternate Realities, Badly-written Smut, Buddy Cops, Bullying, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, I've never written smut before so it's rough, Immortality, It started out as a stupid joke now 2000 words later..., Just two idiots being ridiculous, M/M, Swearing, This is my apology for the last part, but I'm erring on the side of caution, onesie sex, technically it isn't really
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-20
Updated: 2015-03-10
Packaged: 2018-03-04 17:57:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 22,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3077933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zeeazn5525/pseuds/zeeazn5525
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Justin hated <em>everything</em> about being immortal. What little perks came with it only became reminders that he was long overdue for death.</p><p>He wanted out, and he was going to figure it out, <em>one way or another.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shippingtrashsinceforever](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shippingtrashsinceforever/gifts).



> Just take the apology~  
> I was inspired by a bunch of prompts for 30 day writing challenges so I decided to give it a whirl. (My ultimate goal here is to write one chapter of drabble. Just one)
> 
> But first, a lead up.

_"Hey Ki, time to get up." Her voice was soft as she gently shook him from sleep._

_He didn't stir, tired from the previous day's hunt. But he had yet to prepare the meat for eating, and his family depended on it. He groaned loudly as he flipped over, swatting her hands as he turned. "Just a little longer."_

_"Okay," she said in a tone of allowance, her voice warm with adoration as she gave him a small kiss on the forehead before walking away with a chuckle._

_He sighed as he fell back to sleep, exhaustion winning him over immediately._

 

* * *

 

"Hey asshole, stop sleeping," Ray said as he gave Justin a gentle shove.

Justin refused to move, just clinging to the comfort of sleep as clarity started invading the corners of his mind.

"Just a little longer..." he mumbled, curling in upon himself.

"No. Stop this, Justin. You've slept long enough! Get your ass in gear and fight for me goddammit!" Justin turned in Ray's direction.

"Fight for you? Why? You're perfectly fine, why would I need to fi-"

When Justin cracked his eyes open, he was greeted by the harsh glare of the sun. "-ight for...you? ...Ray?" He immediately squeezed his eyes closed again, patting around him in an attempt to find Ray. But the man was no where, at least not near him. It took a few pats to realize he was lying down on wet grass, on the hill. Reality hit him hard, images of Ray and his bloody corpse causing flashes of pain in his chest, making it suddenly hard to breathe again.

 _Why? Why can't I forget them?_ Justin just couldn't figure it out. Why his dreams swam with these two, out of everyone he's ever met. _I really wouldn't have to ask why if I weren't immortal.._.

Justin had always wondered why he was immortal. He'd always wondered if there were others out there like him, if they'd ever be able to meet each other. The thought amused him, a bunch of lonely immortals hanging out in a cafe for all eternity, moping about their inability to die. He wondered if he would ever have the fortune to fall in love with an immortal, and be together forever. That was too good to be true, much like how the thought of a still living Ray was too good to be true. Yet he dreamed it, night after night.

It was as he saw a dandelion further down the hill that he had a thought. _There has to be a reason why._ The small white bristles hung on for their dear lives in the gentle wind. _They're still here for a reason._ The wind eventually died down. The tiny feathers relaxed, succumbing to gravity. I'm here for a reason. The wind picked up again, stronger this time. It blew the bristles away with no resistance, a majority landing in the empty patch that Ray had created months ago. _Why am I immortal? There has to be a reason_.

As if to gain his attention, a small dandelion seed tapped him on the nose before landing there, making his eyes cross unnaturally. Blinking away the discomfort, he brushed the seed off his face. Instead of falling to the ground as expected, it carried in the wind until it was floating in front of Justin again. Once it had Justin's attention, it was blown off in a direction. For a moment Justin considered just sitting there and going back to sleep, back to the comfort of his alternate reality. But something inside ached for him to follow the seed, despite how crazy of an idea that was. So he ran after the small, slightly squished fluff - he was just desperate enough to believe in anything now.

The bristle of dandelion stopped dead at a doorstep, sticking stubbornly to the doormat of the creaky old house. Justin barely hesitated before knocking on the door. When the door opened, however, was a completely different story.

An old, haggard face appeared in the doorway. She looked at him with a smile, but questions were clearly waiting to bounce off her tongue. Justin had no idea what he was doing here. "Um..hi?"

She looked him up and down before saying,"Sorry, I don't have anything left in the kitchen. Maybe come earlier tomorrow."

"Oh no, wait!" Justin cried, sticking a hand on the closing door.

"Can I help you?" she tried.

"I don't..." _This is crazy, what the fuck am I doing? What could she possibly do for me?_ Justin thought, trying to figure out what he wanted from this lady.

"What do you want?" she tried again, a little impatiently this time.

 _I want Ray. I want to be normal, or at least to know why I can't die..._ "Do you know anything about immortality?" he blurted out before he could even think about it. Everything was done on pure impulse at this point.

Her gaze softened immediately, as if she had finally understood. Justin was baffled by the response, he had expected her to call him a lunatic and beat him out of her doorway with a cane or something. "Come in," she said with a smile before swinging her door fully open.

"Um.. thanks," Justin said, stepping inside with a look of utter confusion on his face. She motioned for him to sit on the burlap couch as she plunked into her rocker.

"Are you...?" she asked, waiting for him to answer.

"Immortal? Yeah I am." She simply nodded, continuing to rock in her chair. _She accepted it like she expected it. Weird._

"Do you know what I do?" she asked, breaking the contemplative silence.

"... No," Justin replied honestly, a small blush creeping up his cheeks as his embarrassment of his rash decisions caught up to him.

"I'm a conjurer, I specialize in time." Justin almost snorted at the explanation, biting his tongue before he could blurt out "Your face tells a different story".

"Okay?" he said instead, a little unsure what it had to do with him.

"It means," she started, getting up and walking to a shelf next to the window, "that I can play with time." She let out a mischievous chuckle. From behind the shelf, she pulled out a giant white board. It was thin, making the colour almost translucent. She reached up for a potion, bringing Justin's attention to all the potions that adorned her shelf-lined walls. "I can conjure illusions in the present." She dropped a drop of black liquid onto the upright board. The darkness ran down the middle of the board before painting a picture of New York City. In a few strokes, she added a layer of pure white to the city. Gesturing to the window, Justin could see clearly that the neighbour's house was covered in snow, and the stuff was still falling heavily from the sky. "I can see the past." She paced slowly towards Justin, before firmly grasping a strand of his hair and tugging.

"Ow, what the fu- what the heck?" She didn't satisfy him with a verbal answer, gesturing instead to the board as she dropped the strand of hair onto it. It showed a village on fire, the very same that burned behind his eyelids during his now occasional nightmares. He turned away but she snapped him attention back as she said, "And I can temporarily change it." He watched as the fire quelled under her fingers, his wife escaping from the grip of the attackers, his children each running through the half-burned debris. The scene lasted only a few more seconds before the orange came creeping back on the board. The old woman wiped the board before simply saying, "And sometimes, that's enough to change the future."

She sat back down in her rocker as she waited for him to process the information.

"Do you...do this with everyone?"

"No, most of the people that come to me with favours usually _know_ what I can do. Some people simply cannot wrap their minds around it. But you, you're old friends with time, I thought you'd understand as long as there were visuals." Justin nodded, seeing no reason not to trust her words. She did show him things that he didn't think could possibly be set up beforehand.

"So, what do you want me to do for you?" Justin was a little stunned by the question, unsure of what he wanted himself.

"Well..." he started before closing his mouth, chewing on his bottom lip as he thought about what to say. "I want... to get more time with.." He stopped himself, unsure if saying 'Ray' would mean anything to the old lady.

"Him?" the woman asked, suddenly by the board again, a replica of Ray's smile adorning it in red lining.

"Yes." Justin didn't want to admit it, but he was quite impressed with her abilities. That didn't make it any less creepy though. "Yeah, him. But I... Do you think you could find out how I became immortal?"

"Perhaps, let me try." She wiped away the red, extracting the hair she had pulled before dipping it in a silver liquid and placing it on the board. The image formed slowly, revealing his mother's kind face, whispering words to him as she cradled him in a tiny bundle of blankets.

"My mom? What does she have to-"

"Shh," the old woman said, "Just be quiet for a while."

Justin sat and waited as the old woman just watched the board intently, nodding every now and then before the scene would change. Justin was a little offended and very confused as some scenes of his childhood hit him with waves of nostalgia, while others, he couldn't remember for the life of him. But he considered himself to have a decent memory, what with being alive for centuries already. The last scene was what struck him most. He remembered that night, when he woke suddenly with a terrible feeling in his gut. He remembered how he ignored it, and fell back asleep - to wake up to his mother's death the next morning. What was different about this version however, he seemed to be visibly zapped awake by a purple light emitted from his mother in her dying breath.

"I've heard of this before," she says suddenly, breaking him out of his shocked thoughts.

"Sorry, what?"

"I've heard of this before," she repeated patiently. "Your mother loved you more than anything in the world. Her need to protect you was much stronger than the average person at the time. She prayed for your safety every day and every night since before you were born. But most importantly, she let the gods know why she loved you and she meant every word. Your mother was a woman with a pure heart, Ki."

Justin's mouth dropped open in shock. Of all the things he's experienced since knocking on the door, he was most surprised by the lady knowing him by his old name. It _had_ been a while since anyone had addressed him by 'Ki'.

"How did you know my name?"

"She repeated it a lot."

"Wait, you could _hear_ her?" Justin asked, suddenly excited by the prospect of hearing his mother again, of hearing _Ray_ again.

"I can, but you cannot." Justin tried not to look too dejected, but he visibly slumped in his seat. _So my mom's the reason I'm still here. I don't know if I should thank her or not, honestly. But if anyone can do it with pure love... Could I.._

"Do you think I could... make someone immortal?" She seemed to contemplate it for a second before asking him the question he feared.

"Would _you_ , of all people, put someone through that?" Justin bit his lip. The immediate answer would be no - no way in fucking hell. But he also thought about being with Ray forever. Sure, he hated immortality, but that was because of the nature of human life. If he had an immortal companion, it would be a lot more fun, wouldn't it?

"Well... under certain circumstances, I think it could be good..." he mumbled hesitantly, knowing he was being completely selfish by not even asking for Ray's permission, but it wasn't like he _could_ give permission, him being dead and all.

"This boy you want to make immortal... He is dead right?"

"...Yes."

"You could make someone immortal," Justin nearly leapt from the couch. She pointed a pruny finger towards him as an indication to wait for the 'but'. " _But,_ they have to be alive." Justin sagged deep into the couch now, feeling completely exhausted by this dance of hope and exasperation.

"Is there... anything I could do?" he tried, rubbing his sore eyelids with his fingertips.

"I could..." the old lady started.

"What? What is it?" Justin asked a little too eagerly. He internally cursed himself for still latching on to every bit of hope so quickly.

"Calm down, Ki." It was a little unusual to hear that name being used again after using his alternate name for all his time with Ray.

"It's Justin now."

"Okay Justin. Let me explain what I can do. Then you can tell me if you're willing to do it." Justin simply nodded. "I could alter the situation on April 1st, and allow him to wake up after the fall. You can explain the situation however you want to, use April Fools as an excuse if you're so inclined to. I can only grant you the month of April to give him immortality. You need to give the gods 30 completely truthful reasons why you love this man. Only one reason is accepted per day, so you must be completely honest. I cannot guarantee that the days will be completely normal as sometimes the would-have-beens are quite finicky and one small change can alter the reality of the would-have-been. If you succeed, his immortality will establish in the real world in the split second before you entered the would-have-been world. If you do not, nothing will change. Does that make sense?"

"I..." Justin tossed the thought around in his mind, thinking it over briefly before nodding. "I think so. I want to do it. I want to know that I at least tried."

"Okay, if it's of any comfort, you don't run the risk of never coming back like normal humans, your immortality gives you _that_ advantage."

"No... not really," Justin said under his breath, hoping she wouldn't actually catch it. _I'd rather die in there than come back without him._

"Do you want to go now?" she asked softly.

"Yes," he declared resolutely in the almost empty room.

"I need you to lie down then." Justin laid down as she walked out of his field of sight. She came back with a magenta potion. She plucked another hair from his head, getting a disapproving 'hey' before dropping it in the potion. The hair fizzled out of sight and he briefly considered if she was just going to kill him and make stew out of him or something. A part of him told him that it didn't matter, he could either save the love of his life, or finally _die_. It was truly a win win situation.

"Okay drink this."

Justin took the vial without hesitation, downing the whole thing. It tasted faintly of berries going down, but had a strong aftertaste of blood.

He opened his eyes, unaware that he had even closed them. He felt arms around him, and a voice shrieking "WE'RE GUNNA MAKE IT JUSTIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN"

His back landed heavily on some kind of surface, the contact was beyond painful. He was aware of sinking into whatever material was below him, but darkness was nagging at the edges of his consciousness, fighting to pull him away from the pain. But the voice was persistent in wanting him to wake up.

"Justin! Justin! Wake up! Don't do this to me! No, no, no, no, no, you're not leaving me behind you fucking asshole!" He felt hands shaking him, a wetness hitting his face as the pain flared beneath his head before fading out slowly. "JUSTIN! WAKE UP! DON'T GO INTO THE FUCKING LIGHT YOU DUMBASS, DON'T DO IT!" He smirked a little at that, mumbling a non-committal 'That's so cliche, can't you come up with anything better?'

"Justin, what did you say? Justin, can you hear me? Just-"

"Jesus, will it kill you to shut up for two seconds, Ray?"

There was an immediate pressure on his abdomen as his lips were claimed in a kiss. He relaxed into the long-awaited press of Ray's soft, wet lips, feeling the pain drain out of him almost instantly.

"Does that count as two seconds?" Justin could practically hear the smirk on his face, but he couldn't be happier to hear the smug tone again, wouldn't be happier to be touching the man above him again.

"Yes, April Fools, you idiot." Justin barely had time to think about how he just took the old lady's offhand comment seriously before he was pelted by the heavy fists of his lover. Ray was usually a weakling in comparison, but his body hadn't had time to fully heal from the fall yet.

"You're such a fucking jerk!" He continued to pummel him in the chest, despite Justin's groans of protest.

"You're hurting me more than the fall did!"

"Liar," Ray said before stopping, regardless.

"I promise to explain when we get home... Can we stop making a scene on the street though?" He still had a headache, but he felt good enough to move. The little old lady, God bless her, had put a thick fire escape pad under where they were to land, and had cleared the streets of pedestrians for the time being. He didn't want to overstay the welcome, so he headed off with Ray. He noticed that as soon as Ray had lifted his head to observe the street, the city resumed its hustle and bustle. They hobbled down a few blocks in sweet silence before flagging a cab home.


	2. Day 1 - Holding Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ray doesn't really care as much for real explanations as he does for potential stunts.

"So, explain yourself."

Justin opened his mouth to explain, but nothing came out. It seemed much easier when he was in the woman's house. It had seemed so normal to be immortal for once, in that house. Now he wasn't sure if Ray would be able to accept it. Since neither were good at words, they always went with the most straightforward route.

"I'm immortal."

"You're what?"

"I'm immortal."

"And I'm an elephant. Okay seriously, what's going on?"

"I am being serious! I'm immortal."

"Okay, I know you think I'm an idiot, but really?"

"I'm not kidding this time, and I don't actually think that, you know that." Ray smiled gently at that. There was a long silence. Justin waited patiently for Ray to process the information.

"So like... you can't die?"

"Yeah."

"I guess that would make sense as to why you're still alive after cracking your head open."

"Did my head actually..."

"Yeah," Ray shuddered visibly. "But I wasn't too sure because all that goop was there one second, and then suddenly it was just a tiny pool of blood by your head. It was like I was watching you die in reverse slow motion."

"How did-"

"So like... could you let a snake eat you and burst out of it?"

"I... guess so?" This definitely wasn't where Justin thought it was going. Of course Ray's question was not asking how long he's been alive, not about other relationships Justin may have had, not even what kind of food he ate in the 1900s. His question was about _bursting out of a fucking snake_.

"Cool." Ray seemed to be satisfied with that one question, as if that was his only burning question to ask an immortal if he ever met one.

"Do you think you'd want to be an immortal?" Justin asked timidly. This was as good a time as any to get his permission.

Ray seemed to contemplate it for quite a while before saying, "I think so. It'd be pretty fun to burst out of a snake."

"Jesus, can you forget about the snake thing for now?"

"Okay," Ray said with a small pout.

"So here's the deal. I only have the month of April to make you immortal. I don't know if I'll ever be able to be with you again if I don't succeed, so I'm going to treasure every second here with you." He had managed to say all that looking at Ray with determination, but he blushed and looked down before starting again. "But right now, I want you to be my boyfriend, what do you say?" There was a hopeful lilt on the last word, as Justin fidgeted nervously.

Instead of an aural response, he felt fingers reaching in tentatively, intertwining slowly with his own. He looked up to see Ray's face only inches from his. "Sounds perfect," Ray whispered with a wide grin on his face.

"Good, as for what happens next, I believe I need to-" Ray clasped his unoccupied hand over Justin's mouth.

"I don't care, just do whatever you need to do," Ray said. He wasn't one to be extremely mushy for long, but Justin knew what he meant. _I trust you_.

"Thanks, _idiot_ ," Justin said, unable to resist the glee of having someone to address by that nickname again.

"You're welcome, you undying asshole."

"So, _boyfriend_ , care to join me in the bedroom?" Justin gestured suggestively towards his room. It was a little weird to be back in the apartment, since it had really been months since he last saw it.

"No, I will _not_ join you, you self-entitled prick! You haven't even taken me out on a date yet! You're lucky you're even getting _this_." He raised their linked hands up to eye level to emphasize what 'this' meant.

"Oh alright, fine. I'll take you out on a date soon. What do you want to do?"

Ray seemed to really rack his brain. "I need to think about this, give me some time." _But we don't have time_ , Justin thought.

"Alright, take your time, adventurer," Justin murmured reluctantly, leaning in to peck him on the lips.

"Ah, ah. Who said you could kiss me before taking me out on a date?"

"Says the one stealing kisses from me when I'm drunk," Justin said with a smirk before leaning in again.

"Shut up," Ray retorted weakly, face suddenly impossibly red.

"Okay." Both hands were interlocked with each other as they leaned in for the kiss. Justin had to refrain from untangling their hands to hold Ray down, but surprisingly, Ray stayed exactly where he was.

_I love that Ray trusts me._

_He trusts me to protect him, he trusts me to kiss him right, he trusts me with his life. So please let me craft him an eternal life of perfection suitable for a man that is quite literally its definition._

 

* * *

 

_ I love that Ki trusts me.  _

_ The mother stroked her grown son's tired head that rested on her lap. To her, it seemed like he would never grow up. While he stepped up to his position immediately, and did all he could for his people, he would always be the little kid that looked up at her hopefully, waiting for her wise advice.  _

_ I love that when I tell him he shouldn't be so picky about his children, he listens. When I suggest he banishes a family of potential harm, he never once questions it, just does it. And sometimes I have to make the cruel calls, sometimes he needs me to make them - but he trusts my judgement completely. So let his good heart flow on for generations to come, let him be able to continually spread his goodwill and trust. _


	3. Day 2 - Cuddling Somewhere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ray is already tired of being guarded so carefully.

"Meet me on Park Ave", the note said. Justin stared at it blankly before glancing at the clock.

1:57 PM. _Shit. I overslept_. He briefly wondered when Ray had gotten up, and how long he might have been waiting for him on that street.

Justin scrambled into his clothes and ran out the door, barely stopping to lock it. He booked it to the avenue before realizing that he had no idea where on Park Avenue he was supposed to meet Ray. He slowly moved down the street, making sure to look for the light brown tufts of hair in the swarms of people heading out for late lunches or information booths for directions to the nearest tourist trap. He gradually became more nervous as time passed with no sight of the idiot. He started regretting not taking the car. Walking down this street in these conditions could take _hours._

_Goddammit Ray, what don't you understand about "limited time"? I don't want to be wasting this time without you._

After an hour and a half of searching, Justin was ready to give up and go home. _Maybe he got tired of waiting and went home._ He sat down on a doorstep and gave in to his lungs' continual requests for more air. As he took in another lungful of air, he felt someone sit down next to him. Looking up, he was met with soft hazel eyes and a cheeky grin.

"Where the hell were you?"

Ray simply pointed to the curb two blocks over. "Over there."

"Why didn't you specify an intersection then?!" Justin yelled, suddenly angered by the nonchalance displayed by the man in front of him, the man he had been searching for for the past _hour and a half_. And he was just sitting two blocks away.

"I forgot," Ray said, shrugging it off easily.

"I spent an hour and a half looking for you!"

"Well whose fault is that?" Ray retorted, a little annoyed now.

"Yours! You're the one that didn't give me a specific intersection!"

"Well I thought you'd know..." Ray mumbled.

"Know what?" Justin asked, slightly blind-sighted by Ray's sudden quietness. He felt as if he had missed something, as if he didn't know Ray well enough, and it hurt him more than he would care to admit.

"Nothing," Ray said distractedly, shrugging it off with a cheerful smile. "Let's go!"

Before Justin could even ask any more serious questions, he felt his feet dragging across the pavement. He moved then, following Ray as the paler man let go of his wrist and slipped his fingers between Justin's. They didn't stop until they arrived at the spot Ray had been occupying for most of the day.

When Justin looked up, he suddenly realized where they were. 432 Park Avenue. The tallest residential building in New York.

"What are we doing here?"

Ray wore a small blush. "Well, I thought it would be nice to see the sunrise from the rooftop, but then you slept in so... I guess we could watch the sunset. " Justin stared at him like he was insane. "What?"

"You know we just jumped off the Empire State Building yesterday, right?"

"Yeah, and it was fucking awesome."

"We almost _died_." _You did die_.

"But we didn't cause you're immortal!"

"Actually, it was the mat."

"Same thing."

"That definitely isn't, dude. And it didn't deter you from this _even higher building_?"

"Nope," Ray replied, obnoxiously popping the 'p' in Justin's face.

"You."

"Me?"

"Are fucking insane." Ray just smiled at him, knowing he had already convinced Justin.

"How are we going to get to the roof anyways?" Justin asked, trying to find a way out of it.

"Well, we wait for someone to go in, and then... we climb."

"90 something floors?"

"Wake up, mate. It's leg day," Ray joked with a terrible Australian accent, quirking his eyebrows up in a gesture of challenge.

"No, absolutely not."

"Come onn," Ray whined. "We still have so much time until the sun goes down."

"I'd rather not break my legs before the sun goes down."

"Come on, it'll be fun!"

"Fuck that."

A woman walked up to the door, unlocking it with her key fob. Ray slipped in behind her quickly, gesturing for Justin to follow him. Justin let out a loud groan before entering the building too.

They settled for a compromise, taking the elevator up to the 50th floor before taking the stairs up to the roof access.

Of course, Justin ended up walking for the both of them, practically falling onto the door to open it. Ray slid from his back and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before running off to the edge. Justin was unsure if his legs were shaking because he had just climbed 20 something flights of stairs with the heavy man on his back, or because of the deja-vu of being at a great height again. The wind was strong up here, and Ray looked like he would blow away in the wind if he so much as leaned an inch to the right. Justin ran to the edge where Ray stood, ignoring his protesting legs. He immediately wrapped his arms around Ray protectively, leaning in to whisper above the roar of the wind.

"Aren't you scared of falling off?"

Ray shook his head. "I like it here. I guess I'm a little scared, but you're here."

Justin smiled at that, but didn't loosen his grip. Ray extended his leg over the edge. Justin jerked the both of them backwards, causing his elbows to smash against the ground before the rest of his body experienced being sandwiched between the hard surface and the heavy weight that was Ray.

"What the hell Ray?"

"I just wanted to sit down... " Ray replied, jumping up and rubbing at his neck while glaring at the man on the ground.

"Could have given me some warning."

"Look, I know what happened yesterday was scary and all, but you really don't have to treat me like I'm made of glass. Don't worry so much. Can we just, go back to how we were?" Ray's eyes darted everywhere that wasn't Justin's face. He was clearly uncomfortable asking it, but it had to be done.

"But I... Yeah. Okay. Yeah. You're right. Come here." Justin figured there was no point in changing how they used to be, they worked well together. What happened on April 1st happened under extremely special circumstances, and he wasn't about to let it get the best of him anymore, let it get the best of them anymore. He gestured for Ray to pull him up, to which Ray replied with tugging him up reluctantly. Justin didn't let go of him when he did stand up, leading him back to the edge instead. He picked a spot and sat down, straddling the wide ledge so that one leg was dangling off the side of the building while the other propped itself up on the ground. He leaned back on the ledge until he was lying down on it. He gestured for Ray to join him, and the fearless idiot carelessly jumped on him, causing Justin to let out a soft "oomph".

He couldn't help holding onto Ray tightly the moment he made contact. Justin was glad he did too, he was pretty sure the man would have just rolled right off the edge if he hadn't held him there. He rolled his eyes when he heard a sharp inhale before a long exhale of relief from the man on top of him. Ray nuzzled his head against Justin's neck, hair gently tickling him as the wind calmed to a light breeze.

"This is nice." Ray mumbled.

"Yeah." Justin had to agree, as he silenced all the warning bells in his head.

They stayed like that for hours. Justin felt his limbs grow numb under Ray, but didn't dare move as the man snored softly above him. _Must've woken up really early for this_. Poor soul tuckered out before the sun did, leaving Justin to enjoy the orange-pink landscape all by himself.

_I love Ray's fearlessness._

_He never seems to be afraid of making mistakes, he's always willing to pursue his curiousities. While that's put him in danger time and again, it's also the reason a lot of the people we saved are still alive today. And while it's said that curiousity killed the cat, I hope his fearlessness grants him more lives than just his own._

 

* * *

 

 

_I love Ki's fearlessness._

_She smiled as he ran around terrorizing the other children of the village with the scorpion he found under one of the pots in the kitchen._

_There's not a lot of things that seem to phase him. He doesn't seem to be afraid of the things that the other kids are terrified of. While that makes him a little monster sometimes, he's been able to use it to help others when it comes down to it._

_The girls started crying as Ki dangled the scorpion in their faces. She ran up to finally intervene, a fond smile still adorning her face._


	4. Day 3 - Gaming/Movie Watching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ray is actually serious for once in his life. (Also where he sucks shit at video games)

It was dark in their apartment, the only light source coming from the TV screen currently playing Pacific Rim, one of Ray's favourite movies. While Ray's eyes were fixated on the screen, Justin could tell he wasn't actually paying attention. He had been watching the man with the boyish charm. It was still hard for his head to wrap around being here with Ray again, but he could tell something was bothering him. He didn't see the awe flickering in his eyes like they usually would when watching this movie. Ray's eyes seemed contemplative, tinged with a little sadness.

"What's up?" Justin asked, startling Ray into looking straight at him.

"Nothing?" Ray put off in an unconvincing tone.

"You're not even watching the movie."

"You're not either, you've been staring at me for like the past 15 minutes. I can see you in my peripherals, you know."

"Great, then we'll get straight to the part where you tell me what's wrong," Justin said with a groan. He looked Ray straight in the eyes and Ray bit his lip contemplatively before visibly letting his walls down.

"Just been thinking about this... immortality thing." Justin stiffened. While he had expected a serious talk, he somehow didn't expect this. "I mean... did I really actually _die_?"

Justin hesitated before answering with a sigh. "Yeah."

"How did you cope?" Ray's voice grew quieter with each question, visibly shrinking into himself. Yet behind the apparent need to escape from such serious affairs, a deep, passionate curiousity seemed to burn in his eyes.

For a moment, Justin considered lying to him. He considered telling him that it sucked, but he eventually patched himself up and tried to turn his dead lover into an inspiration for others, a hero to the citizens of their city. But he couldn't lie to him, he didn't have it in him to lie to Ray. "I... didn't cope well. I laid down on our hill and cried a lot. When I was out of tears, I laid there and let sleep take me. I went to worlds where my mom was still alive, when you were still alive and I just wished to stay there. I guess I quit the force after never showing up again." There was a sort of guilt hanging over him as he said the words, acknowledging his pathetic ways seemed to finally make them real.

Ray took a few seconds longer than Justin would have liked to respond. He wondered if Ray would be mad at him, if he would actually experience getting a stern talking to by Ray of all people. "That must've sucked, I'm sorry." That caught him off guard. Ray looked downright _distraught_. Justin had never seen him look so sad and heartbroken. He was so shocked that he didn't have a chance to reply before Ray barreled on.

"I mean, I can't imagine living without you anymore. Isn't that weird? I've never needed anyone before." Justin leaned forward and draped himself around the curled body of Ray, holding the slightly shaking man firmly in his arms. "But when you jumped off that ledge, I felt like the world was ending. I felt like my chest was going to open up and become a gaping black hole that swallows the entire universe in an attempt to fill the emptiness you left. And that was scary, man. That was scarier than any stunt I've ever tried to pull. So there wasn't even a choice in following you down, it was a must."

Justin felt the regret come back to him. _I should have told him about my immortality sooner_.

"I don't know if the Ray that died would agree with me, but I know I'm glad I did jump. I couldn't let you go, and just so you know, I experienced the greatest adrenaline rush of my life. So I mean, if this doesn't work, I hope you know that dead Ray died happily. And he's sorry about the pain he's left you with, but he wants you to move on to greater things. I know I would want you to continue loving, to continue to thrill-seek, if not for yourself, then for me. And I mean, you can't die anyways, so why the fuck haven't you been jumping off buildings all the time?"

"It still hurts, dumbass," Justin grumbled quietly. Ray didn't offer a retort, just a small chuckle as he wiped a tear from his eye.

"Promise me you'll take care of yourself no matter what?"

Justin hesitated slightly before saying, "Promise."

"Pinky-swear?"

"No dude, that's fucking childish."

"Come on, humour me. My face is leaking already," Ray said with a pout. Justin couldn't say no to that pout.

"Fiiine," Justin replied, sticking his pinky up and intertwining it with Ray's. Their pinkies hooked together and neither made a move to let go, instead letting their hands drop to the side, still attached at the pinky fingers.

"If anyone asks, that never happened."

"Who would ask?"

"I dunno, maybe Martha."

"Yes, because she would ask me if I discussed my depression over my dead boyfriend with the same somehow still living boyfriend who I'm trying to make immortal so that my immortalness can be slightly bearable."

And so, they fell back into their regular banter as the movie droned on in the background, sounds of thudding and destruction accompanied by the screeching of monsters bleeding into their conversation. Justin could see the residual tears in Ray's eyes in the blue glow of the screen, but decided not to draw attention to it.

"You're an asshole, you know what I mean."

"I think you mean it's time for an ass-kicking in a round of Mario Kart," Justin challenged with a raised eyebrow.

"I didn't know you were so eager to get a kick in the ass," Ray retorted with his normal cheeky smile.

"If only you drove with more than just empty confidence." They both knew that Ray sucked at most video games, but he never seemed to run out of faith that one day, he would just suddenly wake up a naturally good gamer.

 

* * *

 

Five matches in and still no victory left Ray pouting heavily while resorting to physical distractions - he was practically lying down on Justin, trying to tilt the man off the couch. He got up, and tried climbing on Justin's shoulders to break his concentration. When Justin leaned backward to throw him off, Ray tumbled down from above him with a shout, almost landing on the ground head-first, had it not been for Justin dropping his controller to grab at Ray's calves before they slipped completely off of his shoulders.

"You okay?" Justin asked, tilting his head back a little to address the man still dangling against the back of the couch by his legs.

"Pull me up you asshole."

"Can't, you're too heavy. Help me by pushing." Ray dropped the controller still in his hands before pushing against the couch at an awkward angle. With the combined effort, Ray was sitting back on the couch next to Justin within the minute. A large pout hung on his face. He looked extremely disgruntled, but Justin knew it was all an act for pity. And it worked.

"Stop being a big baby," Justin whispered while he leaned in to kiss the pout off his face. It didn't work.

"It's unfair!"

"You're the one not playing fair, idiot."

"Am not! That's the natural advantage that I have."

"Bullshit. Come on. Man up and finish the tournament." Justin unpaused the game as Ray scrambled to get his controller.

Justin planned to go easy on him, slowing down significantly while reserving his power-ups and specials for the NPCs ahead of Ray. Before he knew it though, he was unable to help either of them win. The navigation at a slower speed was a lot harder than he'd expected, genuinely screwing up way more than he would have liked to admit. In the end, Ray did a victory dance despite coming in 9th, solely because Justin had come in 11th. And as much as Justin hated coming in second to last, he couldn't help but grin widely at the idiot dancing on their living room table.

_I love the way Ray pouts._

_He's a manipulative little shit, but I can't help but try to do everything in my power to make him happy. It's adorable and helps me remember the more important things in life in its own screwed up way._

 

* * *

 

_I love the way Ki pouts, she thought._

_She softly rocked the bundle of joy in her arms, cooing a sweet lullaby as the small face looked up at her with tears threatening to burst from his eyes. His lower lip extended outward, revealing the smoother, pinker inside of his lip. It quivered slightly as his mouth pressed in a line downwards, a look of pleading on his face, begging her in this manner to take away whatever discomfort he was feeling at the moment. She responded with a soft smile as the old melody continued to drift from her lips, taming the storm brewing inside Ki._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I know, they're not supposed to be mushy. But time does things to people. (May have felt a need for hurt/comfort that day too)


	5. Day 4 - On a Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Justin screws up and Ray kind of loves it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Drabble attempt number 1

"I know what I want to do for the date now. Take me on a date today, Justin," Ray demanded as he flopped on Justin's chest, the late morning sun sifting through the blinds and painting glimmering rays of gold in his hair.

"Okay," Justin grumbled back sleepily.

 

* * *

 

It was only after a morning cup of coffee that Justin realized he had no idea where Ray wanted to go, or what he wanted to do.

"So where are we going?"

"Somewhere," Ray said with a shrug. _Fucking mysterious bastard. Okay, I'll play along._

"Alright." And that was the end of that conversation.

 

* * *

 

It was when Justin found himself being shoved into the driver's seat that he asked again.

"Where are we going?"

"Just... Get in!" Ray emphasized with a small push that threw Justin into the driver's seat.

"Well you kind of need to tell me where we're going before I can drive."

"Not necessarily," Ray replied with a smirk as he jumped in the passenger side. "I'll guide you, just make your way to the gas station first." Ray pointed at the fuel indication on the dashboard, drawing attention to the needle that was getting awfully close to the small white E near the bottom.

"Fair enough."

 

* * *

 

"What after?" Justin asked while they waited for the gas to fill.

"Well... Give me a number."

"Twenty-two."

"Do you have a coin?"

"Yeah, glove compartment," Justin said offhandedly. "Stop changing the subject, just tell me where we're going, please?" Justin put on his best puppy eyes as Ray laughed and neglected replying to him in favour of digging into the the glove compartment. Once he found the stash of coins, he took a nickel out at random.

"Heads, we turn left. Tails, we turn right," he said with a chuckle before flipping the coin in a perfect curve - catching it in his hand and slapping the coin on the back of his other hand. "Tails!" Ray announced, showing the coin stuck to the back of his hand to Justin.

Justin's face was full of disbelief as he tried to form a proper response to Ray, but once the thought had settled, they were ready to go. "You... have no idea where we're going, do you?"

"Nope," Ray said, popping his 'p'. He sat with the most amused and satisfied grin on his face, awaiting Justin's reply. Rather than trying to argue with his logic - or rather, the lack of it - Justin opted to just go along with it. Things were more fun that way.

"Okay. Which way do I turn?"

"Okay?" Ray looked slightly caught off guard, but he recovered quickly with an silly smile. "Right, turn right!" he said enthusiastically, pointing right.

 

* * *

 

Twenty-two coin flips later, Justin and Ray found themselves standing in front of a Target in a mall they've never seen before.

"Heads, we go in. Tails, we move to the next store."

"Sounds good, Ray."

Five more flips led them into a Build-A-Bear Workshop. It was a bigger store than they were both used to, with a lot more variety for customization. All different types of characters lined the sample shelves, the franchise seeming to grow faster in new ideas after deviating from just producing bears.

"So we're building this shit?"

"I guess so," Ray said, childish amusement swimming in his eyes.

"Alright then, let's go." Justin grabbed Ray's hand, but Ray slipped out between his fingers and ran off to start the 'building' process. Justin ran after him, bewildered.

"What the fuck?" Justin asked in a slightly angry, but mostly confused tone when he caught back up to Ray.

"Go away Justin, don't look at it! You have to wait for the reveal!"

"So we're not making it together?"

"Of course not," Ray replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Okay then, whatever you say..." Justin said with a roll of the eyes as he went off to make his own plush.

 

* * *

 

When Justin had finished with the bear, he noticed that it bore an uncanny resemblance to Ray. He giggled a bit before deciding that he should gift it to him, as a first date keepsake. He asked one of the workers for a black marker, and was promptly handed one from a side drawer.

_'You're fucking strange but I think I'm already hopelessly in love with you'_ , he scrawled difficultly onto the bear's T-shirt. He immediately regretted writing something so mushy when he finished, trying futilely to cross out the last part when the marker decided to start drying out right then. _Fuck_.

"Uhm.. Do you guys have another marker? This one's dead," Justin asked the clerk sheepishly, hoping the embarrassment wasn't seeping red into his dark tanned cheeks.

"Sorry dude, I don't have any more markers. What about this pen?" The clerk pulled a pen out of his shirt pocket, which Justin took gratefully, scribbling over the words furiously until all that remained was 'You're fucking strange" and a mass of black. Justin gave the pen back to the clerk, and held the bear out to take a look from afar. Before he could even stretch his arms straight, he felt himself stumbling into the back of the clerk as something hit him hard from behind. After regaining balance, he found Ray wrapped around his waist. The smaller man now showed off his masterpiece: a purple and pink polka-dotted dragonear (a cross between a dragon and a bear), with neon green fur and a neon orange belly. It had the head, wings and tail of a dragon, while also occupying an orange and green bear body.

"What...in the..." Justin started before stopping. He laughed suddenly, and continued to laugh as he doubled over, leaning on the shorter man for support as he struggled to breathe. The smaller man wore an insulted look, but Justin was too busy laughing to notice. He handed Ray the bear he made somewhere in the process, who hugged it tightly before frowning at the writing on the T-shirt. Little did Justin know, later that night, Ray flipped the T-shirt inside out to read what was written underneath and spent a good 15 minutes giggling in the dark.

_I love that Ray is unique._

_He does everything on a whim, and always finds ways to be different from others, even doing the most normal things. I guess that's why I'm always trying new things with him, despite being alive for much longer than he has._

 

* * *

 

_I love that Ki is unique._

_Watching her child chew on his grainy breakfast with an air of determination while the other children fought over the limited bowls of sweet milk, she felt a sense of pride. She was glad he didn't follow the others, she was glad he understood the responsibilities he would have to take at such a young age._

_I love that he's determined to be his own self. He'll make a great leader one day. She walked up to Ki, stroking his hair softly as he looked up at her with a scrunched face. She laughed and encouraged him to keep trying, to which he responded with furious, dramatized chewing, followed by his own laughter... then coughing as he choked on an inadequately chewed piece. She scrambled to his rescue before being pushed away from the table for being too embarrassing._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you know how Ray's bear is supposed to be "unique"? 
> 
> Welp. After I wrote it, I found out Kalimba has a [character](http://1.images.gametrailers.com/image_root/vid_thumbs/2014/12_dec_2014/dec_18/t_kalimba_launch.jpg?) that's a bear with the same colour scheme. Also, 1200+ words... not drabble.


	6. Day 5 - Kissing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the idiots go back to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to drabble, I really did. (900 words...close, but not close enough)

Work started back up for the dynamic duo today. The chief had _insisted_ that they took some time off, even though they had _insisted_ that they were fine. But Ray and Justin did appreciate the time off to have some time to themselves, something that they actually had a surprising amount of even on the job - only they weren't _dating_ at the time so things were a little different this time around.

The first day back brought stacks of paperwork. Chief Sandova (or Martha, as they called her outside of work) had them off patrol for another week to "physically cool off", which she punctuated with a discreet wink towards the two officers, both of them blanching at the implications. While paperwork wasn't physically straining, it was mentally tiring, leaving the two more exhausted than patrol probably would have. But it was nice, they sat next to each other in comfort silence, disturbed only by the scratch of pen on paper and Ray's small noises of frustration. Occasionally, Justin would give Ray a gentle squeeze of encouragement on his hand. Other times, Ray would grab them both drinks, hugging Justin from behind when he returned from the break room, stealing small kisses before sitting back down in his own seat. They figured that they might only have a month, so their colleagues could deal with their PDA for now.

"I'm fucking tired, can we skip dinner?" Ray asked as he plopped into the passenger seat.

"No, you need to eat something, you're skinny enough as it is."

"Fine, you're cooking though."

"Then you're on dish duty. I'm going to use all of the plates in the house."

"Fuck you, asshole."

"Yes please." Ray didn't dignify the smooth response with a retort, propping his feet up onto the dash and leaning his head onto his seatbelt.

"I'm going to sleep now."

"It's only a 10 minute drive..." Justin mumbled while turning the key in the ignition.

Once he was on the road, he realized the idiot had yet to respond. Glancing to his right at a red light revealed a sleeping Ray. "Wow that was fast. Sweet dreams, idiot." He whispered as he turned his attention back on the road.

 

* * *

 

Ten minutes later, Justin stood next to the open passenger side door, wondering if he should wake the idiot up, or just haul him off to bed. Ray was so peacefully asleep that he didn't have the heart to wake him up, opting to go with the latter option. Unfortunately, Justin miscalculated the distance between Ray's head and the door frame, and gave Ray an unpleasant awakening anyways.

He tried kissing it better on the way in, making it up to Ray by carrying him - bridal style - all the way up to their apartment despite the man being semi-awake already. Ray was set down gently on the couch before Justin left him in his still hazy state to go make a simple dinner. Ray held on to his arm, lazily tugging on his sleeve before suddenly yanking Justin back onto him.

Suddenly their faces were close, and Justin's mouth dried up, finding no words except the soft 'hello' that escaped his lips in surprise.

"Stay here," Ray said quietly, more a plea than anything. His sleepy voice was absolutely adorable to Justin and he couldn't resist pressing himself a little closer to close the gap between their lips. Ray took that as an 'okay', kissing back lazily before retreating to giggle a little.

From this distance, Ray couldn't tell what expression Justin wore, but he assumed that it was confused, judging by his squinted eyes and past experience.

"It tickles, okay?" Ray said while trying to ignore the faint tingling sensation Justin left on his lips.

"Yeah okay." Justin leaned back in after the curt response and was met with pinched lips as Ray tried to hold in another giggle. "What?"

"I'm glad you don't kiss like a dog," Ray blurted out before giggling again. The dark brows rose slightly in response, Justin pulling away to sit up, legs straddling his hips and lips curved in an amused smirk, as if just waiting for the explanation. "I just mean, you're amazing. The last living thing I kissed was my dog, and it wasn't this pleasant at all." That got a small chuckle out of Justin.

"Good to know, idiot. Can I go make dinner now?" Everything in Justin's body wanted to stay, but his responsible side reminded him to make the skinny idiot some food.

"No," Ray announced matter-of-factly, making Justin's mind up for him. Justin made a show of it, rolling his eyes before complying, cupping Ray's face with one hand before pressing their lips together again. The man giggled against his lips again, and Justin could feel the upwards pull of the other man's lips, making his own gravitate in the same direction of their own accord.

_I love how Ray giggles when I kiss him._

_He acts like it's the most amazing thing thing he's ever experienced (although he could work on wording that better). Kissing him is definitely an experience, something I can't get enough of - something I don't think anyone could ever replicate._

 

* * *

 

_I love how Ki giggles when I kiss him._

_She looked down at her giggling baby, who reached up to play with her curls as she pressed another kiss to his soft forehead._


	7. Day 6 - Wearing Each Others' Clothes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ray admires Justin's body

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I applaud them for lasting 5 days before banging. Slight mention of sexy times? I don't know. I suck at smut don't look at me.

"Good morning," mumbled a sleepy Ray. He felt fingers gently drumming against the skin of his back, felt small puffs of air against his forehead from the angle at which Justin's head was rested, felt the fond gaze of the man below him. He tilted his head up to meet his gaze, watching the slight panic in his eyes fizzle to nothing but calmness and contentment. He pushed himself up by the elbows, eliciting a small 'oof' from the man below him as his sharp appendages dug into his chest.

"Sorry," Ray murmured before pressing a kiss to Justin's lips, languid and slow. It was lazy - perfect for the start of a day off. They had no plans for the day away from watching movies and perhaps going for another round (or two) of sex. While Ray would usually prefer more extreme methods of fucking, he enjoyed the change of pace. He'd already spent so much of his life looking for a thrill that suddenly all he wanted was to take it slow and feel himself breathe normally again.

Just thinking about the possibility of spending the entire day in bed was enough to kick-start a tingling sensation in the pit of his stomach. He pulled away from the kiss, moving lower to kiss a trail down the side of Justin's neck, until he could lay his head back down on the man's shoulder. He rubbed Justin's collarbone softly as he stared at the skin at eye-level. He found himself skipping his fingers across the small dark spots on Justin's chest and collarbone, before tracing the dark, slightly faded designs on his skin.

"When did you get these tattoos?" he asked, still idly following a long, looping line.

"When I was thirteen, I think. I can't quite remember."

"They've lasted a long time then, haven't they?" He felt Justin hum in agreement, the vibrations warm against his ear, sending a shiver down his back. Justin pulled him in closer.

"Centuries. I almost forgot they were there."

"I'm glad you're a cop, cause otherwise I'd have to jail you for being too sexy with your tattoos and gorgeous brown eyes."

"That was terrible, Ray."

Ray pouted before putting on his best seductive voice. "Come on, play along, big guy," he practically purred.

"And what would you do if I were in jail?" Justin asked with a sigh and a smirk, clearly asking only to appease the smaller man.

"I'd keep you locked in an isolated jail cell, where I would go to worship Every. Flawless. Inch. of you," Ray punctuated each of the last few words with a grind of his ass against Justin's naked member under the blankets they threw on haphazardly in their tired post-sex state the night before.

He had managed to push himself up to be resting on his elbows again, face hovering inches away from Justin's. They were much more awake now.

"You're one to talk, Mr. Rock Hard Abs," Justin replied, smoothing his fingers against Ray's abdomen, using much more pressure now than they were a few moments earlier.

"What can I say, police academy pays off," Ray replied with a smirk, staring straight into his eyes, his dilating pupils setting the pools of chocolate brown into motion, reminding him of a rich chocolate fondue. Before Justin could even reply, Ray's stomach budged in - growling like it hadn't eaten in a day... which, when Ray thought about it, was about right. Dinner had been forgotten after things escalated from the couch.

"You haven't eaten in a day, have you?" Justin asked in a tone of sudden seriousness.

"Maybe... It's fine though, let's continue." His stomach seemed to think otherwise, releasing another long string of growls.

"No it's not, I'm going to go make you some food. Anyways, I'm hungry too." Ray whined but was urged to get up with a chaste kiss to the lips and strong, insistent arms pushing against his hips.

"Fiiiiine, but I'm taking your clothes," he said in an upset tone, reaching down to grab his own boxers before throwing on one of Justin's old hoodies that were usually for days when they didn't need to be in uniform. He absolutely loved the hoodie, mostly because while they were both toned nicely from police training and long days full of physical activity (they loved to take the more rowdy cases), he was still much smaller than Justin and basically drowned in the man's clothing. It was a pleasant warmth to have around him, even more so when his smell seemed to just wrap itself around him - a curious mix of firewood and black cherries, with a hint of whiskey. He bent down to pick up the t-shirt he was wearing the night before, handing it to Justin.

"Wear this, or I won't eat." It wasn't a legitimate threat, he knew his stomach would give him away quickly, but he tried anyways.

Justin took the shirt with a roll of the eyes, muttering,"The things I do for you..." before squeezing himself into the smaller shirt. Ray gave a whistle at the sight, walking up behind Justin with a sigh, running his hands contently down the muscles of his biceps, where the fabric stretched thinner than the rest. He kissed at the nape of the darker man's neck before giving him a small slap on the ass to tell him to get cooking.

Ray waited patiently on the couch, idly watching reruns of America's Funniest Home Videos, giggling into the sleeve of the worn hoodie - but also using it as an excuse to inhale Justin's scent as he waited for the smell of brunch to waft in from the kitchen.

 

* * *

 

Justin watched Ray as he waited on the bacon in the pan. The man would giggle once in a while, burying himself in the big hoodie. And while he felt the need to rip the constricting shirt he was wearing off at that very instant, he decided that if he were to be granted such an adorable sight at the cost of his discomfort, he would quite willingly live the rest of his life in a cautious manner, as to keep the shirt in tact by moving as little as possible.

_I love the way Ray just drowns in my clothes._

_How he marvels at my smell, he thinks he's being stealthy but he inhales much too deeply for me not to notice. Although, I'm quite flattered._

* * *

_I love the way Ki just drowns in my clothes._

_Ki's mother laughed as her dress hung low from her son's shoulders, the ends dragging across the floor while his entire chest remained exposed. He laughed alongside her, clapping in happiness as he squealed in excitement, asking her repeatedly if he was as pretty as her now. And who could say no to that bright, hopeful face?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I REALLY THOUGHT THIS WAS SHORT ENOUGH. But apparently it's 1100+ words. *sigh*
> 
> I was also really hungry when I was writing this. Food > sex


	8. Day 7 - Cosplaying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ray is surprisingly talented with clothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still not drabble yet, dang it.

"Remind me again... Why are we doing this?" Justin asked while twisting his head around with his hands on his waist, trying to take a peek at Ray's progress as he ran circles around Justin, slapping him in the arm for moving before readjusting the fabric held down beneath Justin's fingers.

"I started on these for Comic Con, I wanted us to go this year! I even had two sets of costumes lined up for us, but since we might not be here for the fall..." Justin's mind mentally paused at that, while Ray smoothed over the thought like it didn't mean he may not ever get to see another fall again. "... I decided to name today cosplay day and finish the cosplays!"

"Why today though?" Justin eyed him curiously as he got up from his crouched position to return to his desk, recording something with his pen. He shrugged as he spun back around to take the fabric from Justin, who visibly relaxed when the pins temporarily keeping the clothing together were finally removed.

"Why not? It's a project I want to finish."

"Fair enough," Justin sighed. "Do you have to make everything by hand though? I mean that.." He pointed to a collection of blue fabrics. "Couldn't you have just bought a jean jacket?"

Ray gave an indignant sound as reply. "That's not the spirit, Justin!" Then he leaned closer to wrap his arms around the man, slotting easily into the space he seemed to fill perfectly, brushing his lips against his ear the moment they were close enough, whispering, "Plus I have an excuse to touch you." He pulled away with a smirk as he returned to his work, leaving Justin with a sudden flush of red in his cheeks.

"You don't need an excuse to do that," he mumbled before sauntering off to get them both some coffee.

 

* * *

 

Justin sat at the table, facing Ray. A warm, new mug of coffee swirled with streaks of cream as he swirled it in rhythm with the mechanical starts and stops of the sewing machine. He didn't even know they had a sewing machine until Ray hauled it out of the deep recesses of his room. _That man is just full of surprises_.

Ray was surprisingly good with the machine, despite the constant stream of curses coming from his mouth - more out of the anxiety of possibly screwing up than actually screwing up. Currently, he wore the face of concentration that Justin would only see on a small minority of occasions, usually on pressing cases that required maximum focus. Otherwise, Ray usually ran around with an air of carelessness which, to be fair, was a weapon of its own. It let people let their guard down around "the clumsy idiot", forgetting he was actually quite a force to be reckoned with.

 _These silly costumes must actually mean a lot to him_ , Justin realized. He smiled faintly as Ray threw a whispered curse at the machine, dropping the button he was working with. He quickly returned to inching the thing back in place, eyebrows furrowed, eyes squinted and breath held in with lips pressed firmly together in a slight slant.

 _I love how Ray looks when he's truly concentrated on something. It's one of the most attractive expressions he has._  

 

* * *

 

Justin regretted thinking that. He regretted every nice thing he ever said or thought about Ray.

"No, I'm not wearing that wig." Ray pouted with a blonde women's wig in hand.

"Come on, please? You _have_ to be Rose."

"No, I don't even know who she is!"

"She's the Doctor's companion! You're _my_ lovely companion."

"No, fuck that. I'm not wearing a wig."

"But we're not going out, I swear! Just for me, _please_? " Ray pulled out all the stops, staring at Justin with _that damn pout_ and his big puppy eyes, greens encircling grays, causing Justin to reach over and begrudgingly snatch the wig out of his hand. Ray responded with a smile brighter than any Justin had seen in a long time. He tried to hide his giggles when Justin threw the thing on his head.

"Looks like a perfect nest for birds. Let me fix it, you dope." He leaned in, adjusting the wig so that it actually fit properly. He admired Justin's eyes for a second while he was there, pulling him down slightly for a kiss, indulging in the thick scent of coffee on his lips. "Perfect," he breathed, pulling away from the kiss.

"Where's your costume?"

"My _cosplay_ is missing a leather jacket. I've realized that leather is fucking hard to work with, so we'll go get that tomorrow," he said easily, "accidentally" leaving out the part where they were also going to get make up for Justin. "Now, my sweet Rose, dance with me," he offered with a giggle, an outstretched hand and a slight bow. Justin gave him his hand with a roll of the eyes, trying to hide how his heart still skipped a beat, despite the amount of times he's heard silly, crazy or romantic ideas spill from the lips that he wanted to cherish for lifetimes to come.

 

* * *

 

_I love how Ki looks when he's truly concentrated on something._

_She watched her son struggling with his first kill, face scrunched in concentration as he tried to imitate his father's every instructional action. She considered it a blessing that he was so eager to learn, no matter how boring the task. He would always put his all in completing it - and making it fun, if her husband's sudden shouting and son's loud laughter was any indication._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually have no knowledge about Doctor Who, it was a suggestion and I decided why not? (But I'm sorry if I wrote something that shouldn't be written)


	9. Day 8 - Shopping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they're both irresponsible cop children.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was completely convinced this was a short chapter, but in the end it was 1000+ words... Where do these words come from? D:

"You should let me push you, in a cart, into that corner with all the beds," Ray whispered to Justin in a suggestive voice, tugging on his arm with both hands, one clasped in Justin's, the other looped inside the plastic rings of a bag containing his new black leather jacket.

"For God's sake Ray, we're cops. We're supposed to stop the havoc, not wreak it. Plus, haven't you been hurt enough last night?" Justin scolded with a false tone of disbelief, flicking Ray on the shoulder, where he knew a bruise had fully blossomed from hitting it against a table in the process of completing a "sexy dip" during their clumsy, broken dance. "But..." he paused, a smirk tugging at his lips. "I wouldn't mind if you were in the cart."

"You're gunna run like an asshole aren't you?" Ray stated in a factual sense, because there was no question about it. Justin had a reputation to keep up as the "responsible cop" of the duo. _Responsible cop my ass, fleeing the scene of the crime like a coward._

"Only after you make a scene and before you're a loud idiot about it."

"Okay, let's make a deal then."

"What kind of deal...?" Justin had an uneasy feeling about this - it felt like he had just willingly walked into a trap.

"I'm going to buy you something to hide your identity, but you have to stay here when we do the cart thing."

Justin considered it, and thought that sounded alright, so he told Ray exactly that.

 

* * *

 

This was not alright.

_This was not alright at all._

_I'm going to kill that son of a bitch_ , Justin thought angrily, death glaring the man in the mirror that stood with a cheeky grin, trying - and failing miserably - to stifle his laughter. He looked extremely pleased with himself. _I'm going to snap his goddamn neck._ The woman in front of him instructed him to look up timidly, poking at the lower curves of his eyes tentatively, swiping some kind of pencil around, causing him to feel a slight burn before cursing. She pulled away immediately, apologizing profusely, to which he sent a forced smile and approximately his 47th reassurance that he was okay. _But I'm not, I'm going to **murder** him_.

 

* * *

 

New make-up kit and leather jacket left in the car, the duo made their way back into the department store where they first made the deal. Justin was now donning a frizzy dark brown wig and a face full of heavy make up. Ray had to admit, despite all his laughing, Justin looked fantastic in drag. His bulkier body probably threw most people for a loop, but to Ray, it's what grounded him about the man. He never wanted to see Justin the way he was when he first met him again. His new look was the Justin he knew, the Justin that chose to live - a Justin that was completely wiped of the frail body that used to radiate broken hopes. He smiled up at the man who had not stopped glaring at him since they first entered the make-up store.

"I hate you."

"Oh suck it up, you look _fabulous_." Justin probably would have believed him too, if he didn't say "fabulous" in the way he did - as if he had just popped out from a teen chick flick.

Ray was already sitting in the cart, as was almost customary for most of their trips to the mall. Justin didn't even dignify him with an answer before making a dash through an empty aisle, building up speed before taking a sharp turn into the wider walkway leading to the beds. The wheels jammed slightly with an awful screech, scratching the smooth floor with a streak of black as Justin continued to build speed. About halfway down the walkway, he let go, watching the cart sail straight towards the beds. _Thank God there's not a lot of people in here right now_ , he thought. The walkway was nearly empty - a few people staring at the scene in both anticipation and horror near Justin, while completely unoccupied on the half that Ray was currently gliding down.

In the split second it took for Justin to be thankful, Ray had stood up shakily in the cart, now surfing it. He jumped from the cart a moment from impact, rolling onto the bed directly in front of him, sending the cart tumbling backwards. It was a pretty good idea, Justin had to admit. It spared a lot of displays from being knocked over, but the racket of the cart clanging its protests was still unavoidable. He stood blinking at the scene for a moment before running up to attempt flipping the cart back over, before giving up and grabbing a celebrating Ray off the bed to make a run for it.

They piled into the car quickly, driving off immediately. They didn't look back until they were a good 5 minutes away. Then, while paused at a stoplight, they both broke down in laughter.

"That was fucking awesome!" Justin recognized the familiar glimmer of awe in the hazel eyes and couldn't help but grin.

"You're pretty smart for an idiot."

"You're pretty tolerant for an asshole."

_I love how Ray is forever a child at heart._

_It's fucking annoying, but it's also what makes him **him**. It's the type of excitement and adventurous personality that I need in my life._

 

* * *

 

_I love how Ki is forever a child at heart._

_She laughed loudly, watching her older grandchildren hide their own smiles in embarrassment as their father squirmed on the floor, screaming bloody murder as the youngest granddaughter pressed a hand dipped in berry juice onto his chest, effectively "killing" him. He then laid limp, waiting for a reaction. No one paid him any attention, but she could see his eyelids cracking open to survey with a small smile tugging on the corners of his lips. The kids stared silently at him, waiting to pounce the next time he so much as took a deeper breath. Little did they expect his sneaky fingers to come around and patter on their sides, all three falling prey to his attack._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is not going to be drabble, I can feel it in my bones. (Watch it be drabble)


	10. Day 9 - Hanging Out With Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ray is stupidly drunk but also uncharacteristically caring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't expect to do drabble for this one, so I just let myself write~

When Ray and Justin arrived at work, they were greeted by the sight of Chief Sandova relaxing in Ray's chair with her feet on the armrest of Justin's - waiting for them both behind their desks. She was drumming her fingers lightly on Ray's desk out of sheer boredom. She straightened up slightly at the sight of the couple walking in, hand in hand. 

"When did you two decide to turn up the PDA?" Justin dropped Ray's hand immediately, bringing it up to his mouth to cough into as a means of stalling.

"What do you mean by that?" Ray asked instead.

"Just seems kind of weird for you two to suddenly make your relationship public, but good for you," she said in her administrative tone - the one she kept on at work. Ray seemed a little flustered by the implication that they had been in their romantic relationship for much longer than the 8 days they've had so far. Words refuse to make their way from his mouth, so the chief continued on. "But that's a matter we can discuss at a later time. I'm here to deliver a warning since both of you seem to have forgotten the difference between shit you can pull in actually cases and shit you can in regular life. It is one thing to pull a stunt for the safety of civilians. It is a completely different thing to pull a stunt that could have potentially harmed civilians."

Both men stared at her in confusion, the shopping mall incident far from both their minds.

"What I'm saying is, be careful what you do on an every day basis. Both of you are let off with a warning since you did just come back from a harsh mission. But please remember, your job does not end when you take off the uniform, or when you put another on, _Officer Patil_." And with that, she sauntered out, stuffing a fancy looking card in Justin's hands while a crimson red bloomed through his dark, tanned cheeks in remembrance of his "disguise" from the previous day. 

Ray snatched the card from his hands after whispering a small 'sorry' with a cheeky smile, pressing warm lips - that were cool in comparison - on his burning hot cheek before plopping down in his chair in a lazier version of Martha's position.

"Hey, says we're invited to open mic night with the girls." Justin tried to shake the embarrassment from his head, pushing Ray's feet from his armrest before sitting down in his chair. Ray gave a noise of displeasure before resting his feet on Justin's lap instead. 

"What about the guys?" Justin couldn't remember the last time he had hung out with all their friends from police academy. Usually they were scattered across the state and were rarely in the same city. He figured if the girls were going, then the guys would have made the drive over with them. 

"Says here on the card, 'only girls and gays'. In very pretty writing too."

"So we're now confined to hanging out with the girls?"

"Yup," Ray said, with his signature popped 'p'.

"Do they think we suddenly possess girl minds now?"

"Probably," Ray said with a shrug, a grin plastering itself to his face. "I think it'll be fun!" Justin groaned at that, knowing they were absolutely going that night, since Ray seemed to actually be excited by the idea. He wasn't really looking forward to the night himself. He had nothing against the girls, they were all normally sweethearts and total shitheads when they were all together. But without the guys, he knew this new "gay" development would spur on more questions than he would ever imagine having to answer at once. He doubted that even the reporters at the few press conferences he's had to attend didn't showcase the talents for hounding that these women possessed.

"Think we can get them to invite a few of the guys?"

"Maybe, but I'm not asking Martha." Justin groaned again at the thought of confronting their police chief about this.

 

* * *

 

Martha had agreed to let a few guys join their event, to Justin's relief. Although that did nothing to stop the women from hounding them anyways. 

"So," Alicia, one of their closer friends started with a small childish smile, "Have you guys had sex yet?"

Justin shrank away from the conversation, opting to support a drunk Ray instead. He himself hadn't drank since the whole "going back in time" thing started, and he didn't plan on it - partially because he was the designated driver, partially because there was a churning feeling in his gut, and he wasn't sure it had much to do with the nervousness and embarrassment anymore. Ray, on the other hand, was reaching a new level of drunkness, teetering on the spot and upturned lips spilling information about their relationship shamelessly.

"Heeeell yesh, Jushtin is fruckin' amaze....," Ray slurred, stopping mid sentence as if to think. "..zing bed."

" _Amazing bed_." Justin repeated, chuckling at the man with rosy cheeks leaning heavily against him.

"Yeeeeer," he hiccuped, "'toopid." Ray laughed and walked over tipsily to the other side of the table, whisper-slurring to Karen, who was sitting closest to the song selection machine. 

Ray slowly made his way back to Justin, saving him from having to answer Alicia's next question. He snuggled into the space between Justin's legs while Justin snaked an arm around his waist in an attempt to keep him from sliding down against the bar stool he was currently sitting on. Martha made her way over to the couple, a beer in hand. Martha was different like that. While most of the girls sat around the small table with their margaritas, she walked around with a bottle of beer. 

"Sup, assholes?" she greeted. Both Ray and Justin preferred Martha out of work, their conversations were less rigid, although they still had to be careful and filter their thoughts. They were known to always toe the line with Martha, but they had not - miraculously - screwed up enough to warrant heavy consequences yet. Justin didn't ever want to cross that line, so he kept an eye on Ray, who seemed to be slightly sobering up after Justin had kept him from more alcohol for almost a half hour now. 

"Hiiii Marda," Ray greeted before turning to nuzzle Justin's neck affectionately. 

"Hey boss, Ray's," Justin started, pushing Ray's face from leaning into him so that he would be facing Martha again. "Ray's had a little too much tonight, I think." Ray pushed back against Justin's hand, settling his nose back on his neck. "So just, don't mind him." Justin made to push him off again, but Martha cut him off with a chuckle.

"Just leave it, I like it better when you two embrace your gayness anyways. It's fucking awkward watching you two restrain yourselves, I'm glad you guys finally gave up on that."

"What do you mean _finally_?" Justin asked, tilting his head slightly to give Ray better access - hoping it didn't seem as obvious as it felt. 

"Drop the act, the whole station knew you two were dating since like 2 months into the job."

"What?!" Justin shouted in disbelief, a little louder than he had intended. A few of their friends turned to look at them briefly, before returning to their own conversations as they caught up to each other's lives. Ray made a disturbed noise, jumping up a little before settling his head back into the curve of Justin's neck. "We just started dating last week," he said in a much quieter voice.

"Did you?"

"Yeah."

Ray mumbled a reply too, but it was much too jumbled for either of them to decipher. 

"Our bad then, seemed like you two were too close and in sync for there not to be some romantic relationship involved."

"You're fucking kidding."

"Nope, ask anyone in the station."  _Were we really that fucking obvious?_ Justin felt stupid for being so oblivious now that the signs were so glaringly obvious. 

"Okay, I will. If I find someone who says otherwise, you're giving me a raise."

"Fine," Martha said with a confident smirk on her face. She stepped aside as Alicia pulled Ray from him, a surprised squawk coming from the smaller man as he stumbled behind her. 

"So, how are things with Martin?" Justin asked, hoping to divert the conversation from his relationship.

"He seems like a nice guy. A good person definitely - always opens doors for people, always super polite to our wait staff... Oh! He even helped this sweet old lady cross the road once! He's quite the gentleman." Justin smiled. He was super happy that Martha had finally found someone that sounded like a keeper. He had met her in a bar before she became their chief, actually. It was on one of his and Ray's earlier bar trips, where they would just go out to drink and have a good time as buddies, rather than the jealousy contests that their trips slowly evolved to as time went on. That night had ended with Martha enveloped in a comforting embrace between the two strangers, sobbing into their shoulders and spilling all her heartaches. Man, was her face red when they both showed up in her station as part of the new batch of officers only a few weeks later.

"I'm happy to hear that," Justin commented.

"But... I'm not sure if I'm his type. I mean, what if-"

"Doesn't hurt to try, right?" he interrupted with an encouraging smile.

"Yeah I guess but-"

"Hey, what happened to the scary boss lady that's not afraid of anything?" he asked, half-jokingly in reminder that she was much more capable than she gave herself credit for.

"That's no way to talk to your fucking superior," she replied in an evidently joking tone before returning to her solemn face of worry. "But seriously, what if he doesn't-"

"AAAAND AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE-AIIIIIIIIIIII WILL ALWAAAAYS LUUUUUUUUUUUUB JUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" Ray's drunken, off-key singing broke into their conversation as he put his all into the climactic line of the song. Everyone in the bar busted out into laughter and Ray grinned back goofily as he continued with the song.

"Don't be afraid of embarrassment, Martha. Just look at Ray, he's acting like an idiot and everyone in here loves him," Justin told her as he nudged her with his elbow.

"Well he's drunk."

"Maybe you should get yourself some liquid courage too then," Justin said with a wink. "You'll only feel the embarrassment after the deed's been done, and there won't be any time for embarrassment anymore. Ray though," he glanced again at his drunken partner still mumbling the lyrics of the verse on stage, "he's gunna feel it come morning."

"I wanna... I wanna dejicate dis song to Jushtin... cause... cause... he hash a big dick," Ray was now mumbling. The crowd roared with another round of laughter while Ray stood on stage, looking a little confused. "No! Ju don' underrshtand. i' fruckin' hurrs sometimes buh's so gooood." 

Martha now stood next to Justin laughing, a mocking hand giving him sympathetic pats on the back. Justin looked like he wanted to disappear forever but he just started walking towards the stage, to hopefully drag Ray down from there before he spewed anything else about  _anyone_ 's dick. 

"DON'T BE AFRAID OF EMBARRASSMENT, JUSTIN. TAKE YOUR OWN ADVICE." Martha shouted after him, only effectively embarrassing him more as the crowds spotted the 'Jushtin' Ray had been rambling about. A few whistles and catcalls came from the audience as he tried to walk as fast as possible - which wasn't nearly as fast as he would have liked to disappear from that bar. He dragged Ray down from the stage and back to their table, earning him 'boos' from both the audience and Ray. He turned back around to pull Ray into a rough kiss to shut everyone up, and it seemed to work as the audience died down after a round of victorious cheers while Ray gave in easily with a soft whimper. 

They decided to huddle in a corner booth to escape some of the awkwardness for a while.

 

* * *

 

An hour and a half later found Ray much more sober, talking excitedly with some of their friends that joined their corner booth. Justin wasn't really tuned in to the conversation at all - the churning in his stomach was actually turning into a dull pain. To the others, the residual embarrassment was still on his face. But Ray knew that Justin wasn't feeling well. It's why he had been ordering water for Justin alongside himself and nuzzling him on the neck occasionally, in hopes of soothing whatever was bothering him - even if it only helped a little. When Justin shifted to lean almost all his weight against Ray, his head on his shoulder, he could hear the small groans coming from Justin. He took it as a sign that Justin was completely done with the night.

Ray quickly wrapped up the story he was currently telling and made up an excuse for needing to leave. The group responded with the typical 'off to have sex' jokes before wishing them a good night, and Ray replied with a 'you betcha' and an exaggerated wink before grabbing Justin by the hand to pull him out. Justin mumbled a 'goodbye' to the group with a small smile as he was pulled away from the booth. 

"Are you in  _that_ much of a hurry to have his dick?" Martha asked, suddenly appearing beside the door as Ray grabbed the doorknob hurriedly.

"No, he's just not feeling that great," Ray replied truthfully, but it didn't stop the blush from creeping in as his more sober brain processed what he had admitted to the entire bar of people.

"Oh, hope you feels better soon then. See you two at work tomorrow."

"Thanks boss," Justin continued to mumble as he was tugged through the now open door by Ray. 

Once outside, Ray slowed down slightly. 

"You okay?" he asked, concern laced heavily in his voice.

"I'm fine... You didn't have to leave yet."

"Well you didn't sound fine. You don't usually make any noise unless you're really in pain."

"It doesn't matter, it's not like I can die."

"But you're still hurting." Ray wrapped his arms around Justin's waist protectively, acting like someone had threatened to kick his puppy right in its adorable face.  _It could be the alcohol lingering in his system_ , Justin's mind suggested, prompting him to stop arguing and to just melt into Ray's touch. 

"Are you feeling okay enough to drive?" Ray asked after they stood in their embrace for a few minutes.

"I don't know, it feels like someone's driving an ice pick into my stomach. I think I should be fine, but I don't trust myself right now."

"Okay, we'll cab then. Just take it easy." Ray reached up, stretching as far as he could while standing on his tiptoes to deliver a loving kiss to Justin's right temple. Justin closed his eyes and hummed into the touch. 

_I love how Ray just seems to know me._

_I don't have to tell him much for him to know the right thing to do - even if he fucks up a lot sometimes._

 

* * *

 

_I love how Ki just seems to know me._

_She looked down at the boy kneeling in front of her, stroking his hair gently as he worked. He rubbed the tension from her aching feet slowly, since he had suggested giving her a massage after a long day of work. She had never thought he would be capable of relieving her stress in this way - especially since **she** didn't even know that she was stressed to begin with._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mean, it's only almost 2600 words.. Lol but it was enjoyable to write drunk Ray. 
> 
> (I didn't even include the sexies. I'll probably use this series to work on my smut writing, so look out for that in the future...I guess. Or don't. Don't actually.)


	11. Day 10 - Animal Ears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we get a glimpse of Ray's childhood??

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyy, reading break means more fic time!
> 
> This one's really open to interpretation. It may or may not be how it actually went down.  
> (TW: Bullying and slight neglect)

"Sweetie, time to wake up for school!" Startling awake, Justin was presented with an unfamiliar voice. He was staring at a lime green ceiling, confused because their apartment didn't have a green ceiling. Looking around, he was in an unfamiliar room, the entire room was green, with the occasional artistic streak of orange scattered along the shelved walls.

A young boy sat up next to him, sleepily rubbing at his eyes with a gentle smile. He looked to be around 8 years old, with sandy blonde hair and stunning hazel eyes. _Is that Ray?_

"Good morning Justin, ready for breakfast?" the boy squeaked.

"Good morning...Ray?" Justin replied in an equally squeaky voice, surprised by the sound that emerged from his throat. Sitting up and clearing his throat, he looked down at himself, shocked to see a body he hadn't seen in centuries. His hands were tiny, and peeking down his simple cotton shirt revealed a smooth chest with no sign of his dark tattoos. _Am I...young again?_ Strangely enough, being young again seemed more plausible than growing old at this point.

_"I cannot guarantee that the days will be completely normal as sometimes the would-have-beens are quite finicky and one small change can alter the reality of the would-have-been." Did the would-have-beens that the old woman warned about also include being transported back in time? Or was this a different reality entirely?_

“Are you okay?” Ray asked quietly. Little Ray was absolutely adorable. The child staring back at Justin was now fully awake, hazel eyes glimmering almost gold in the sunlight that shone through his windows. His cheeks were plump and slightly pink from the heat of the bed, lips stretching in an encouraging smile that permeated a sense of worry.

“Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?”

“You're being weird.”

“I'm fine, dipshit. Let's go get food.” The little boy cringed at the swear, eyes wide with disbelief. It made Justin feel really bad for swearing, but Ray swore up a storm normally... “Wait.. do you, remember who I am?”

“Of course! You're my best friend Justin. Are you sure you're okay?” Ray scooched closer to look Justin right in the eyes, a childish worry swimming in the wide chasms of dark gold. His palms pressed small dents into the mattress, sliding Justin slightly forward. _Ray doesn't remember?_

“Yeah, I'm okay. Let's go eat,” Justin prompted in an attempt to shake off the spotlight that Ray had suddenly placed on him. It's a good thing Ray had a short attention span, bouncing excitedly off the bed before grabbing him by the hand and immediately dragging him down the stairs. Ray's grip was gentle, barely there, but enough to make Justin light up with a smile.

 

* * *

 

 

Breakfast was... interesting.

First, they sat down. Ray's mother came over with a fresh plate of pancakes sitting on a blue plate, setting it down in front of Ray with a good morning and peck on the forehead.

Ray blushed a gentle pink as he complained that “Mom, I have a friend here!” Justin gave a quick smirk before it melted into a fond smile.

“That's okay, I think it's nice,”he said.

“Sorry, how rude of me. Good morning Justin!” Mrs. Hardy greeted cheerfully before setting a plate of pancakes in front of Justin. When Justin looked up to reply, he was startled to see her smiling face resting inches in front of him.

“Good morning...” Justin mumbled.

“He says good morning, mom. You're getting really close to his face.”

“Sorry,” she said before backing off.

After that encounter, Justin thought this morning couldn't get weirder. But as he looked down at his plate, he knew he was going to be in for a hell of a day.

“Plastic pancakes? What the- Why don't I get real pancakes?” Justin asked, but it came out more as a whine in his young voice. Ray looked genuinely concerned again.

“Mooom, why doesn't Justin get real pancakes today?”

His mother, now in the living room reading the paper replied, “I ran out of batter, honey. I'm sorry, I'll make sure to make extra waffles tomorrow okay?”

“Okay!” Ray called back, suddenly excited by the prospect of waffles. He turned back to Justin, “Sorry Justin, guess you'll just have to eat this for now!”

Justin just stared at him disbelievingly, unable to form words. He crossed his arms and pouted because, he's a child anyways, right? He's allowed to pout. As Ray happily shoveled pancakes into his mouth, Justin watched with jealousy, continuously mumbling “idiot asshole” under his breath and occasionally side-eyeing his own plastic pancakes until Ray had finished. It was fine though, Justin was surprisingly not hungry.

 

* * *

 

 

How it escaped him for so long, he wasn't sure. He should have clued in at breakfast, but he didn't. He should have clued in on the school bus, but he didn't. He should have clued in _during class_ but it didn't. It wasn't until Ray was sitting with him under a tree during lunch break that he clued in.

“Hey Raymond, you hanging out with your imaginary _friend_ again?” Justin looked up to see a tall boy towering over them, five others close behind – amongst them, a small girl with red hair that looked slightly uncomfortable being there.

He was about to ask what his problem was when Ray visibly flinched before shakily saying, “Justin's not imaginary, you're just not creative enough to see him.”

_What._

“Yeah right, _loser_. You just don't have any real friends. Nobody likes your crazy poohead. That's why no one likes you.” The boy and his friends started laughing with such faces of mockery that they gave hyenas a run for their money. The little girl worked up a nervous giggle, but it died down when she met Ray's watering eyes.

“That's not true! People like me!” Ray defended weakly. Justin couldn't do anything but watch the situation unfold.

“Oh yeah? Like who? Your _mommy_?” asked another boy with a baseball cap on.

“Well yeah, and Miss Sonya,” Ray pointed out quietly. Miss Sonya was his third grade teacher, as Justin learned from quietly kneeling next to Ray's desk for the whole class day so far. It's a wonder how the fact that no one else could see him had escaped him for so long. It seemed like all the adults in Ray's life just played along, no matter how ridiculous it sounded. He was surprised Ray's mom would make _actual waffles_ for an imaginary person. That requires some dedication.

“That's because she _has_ to like you, stupid face,” the first tall boy retorted quickly. “I heard Fiona say that your daddy doesn't like you at all. Isn't that right, Fiona?” The small redhead shrunk away apologetically behind the one with the baseball cap.

Justin's heart ached at the sight of poor Ray, defenseless against these children that knew no bounds. He curled into himself, the hurt clearly displayed in his eyes. But he was non-existent, he couldn't help.

“It's probably because you were so crazy and stinky that your daddy had to leave.”

“Stop it, that's not true!” Ray poked his head up to yell, but it was drowned out in their howling laughter.

“Crazy face, Crazy face, Raymond is a stinky crazy face!” the group chanted repeatedly. Other students came to join in until there was a small mob of them. Ray retreated into himself, head on his knees and arms wrapped tight around them, whimpering. When he became bored of the crowd, the tall one kicked him in the shin and spat on his hair before turning away with a muttered, “Stupid teacher's baby. What a weirdo loser.”

Ray's whimpers continued as they walked back inside. Justin didn't know what to do but wrap his arms around the boy, whether he felt them or not.

“Hey Ray.” Ray didn't budge, continuing to sniffle. “ _Raaay_ ,” Justin tried again, whining. Ray looked up, with red eyes and a red nose, sniffling again to stop his tears. Their faces were ridiculously close again.

“It's okay Ray,” Justin said quietly. “It's okay.” Ray said nothing, eyes searching for a trace of dishonesty. When he found none, he leaned in Justin's direction. While it looked like Ray didn't quite trust him enough to put his full weight on him, he did feel the slight pressure of the boy pressing against him.

“So you can see me?” Justin asked, still in a soft, calming tone. Ray simply nodded.

“Can you feel me?” Ray shook his head sadly.

“I thought you knew this, stop being weird,” Ray finally spoke, scrunching his stuffed nose – making his tone sound cutely muffled and slightly nasal.

“Well I can feel you, sort of,” Justin added anyways. That seemed to be new information to Ray, as his eyes widened in his signature curious style. _Some things never change_.

“Why didn't you tell me before?” he asked excitedly, as if he forgot what had unfolded just minutes ago. Before Justin could respond, he felt a light prodding on his arm. “Can you feel that?” Ray asked.

“Barely.”

“What about this?” Ray prodded a little harder.

“Sort of.”

“What about this?” Ray tickled his neck.

“That tickles! Stop it!” Justin screeched, squirming around as Ray continued to attack his neck.

“What about this?” Ray prodded him hard on the chest. It felt like a thick needle stabbing into it.

“Ow! Yes that really hurt!” It was a sudden excruciating pain that had Justin screaming. Ray covered his ears and said sorry a few dozen times, trying to hug it better.

Justin wasn't quite sure when he stopped screaming, it had to have been a while since a crowd had gathered to watch the crazy child hugging air. _Goddammit Ray, you idiot._

 

* * *

 

 

Mrs. Hardy had to pick Ray up early from school that day. She was called in to talk about Ray having another “episode”. Justin wondered how many “episodes” Ray had had already.

In the car, it was Justin's turn to say 'sorry'. Ray would just give him a kind look and a goofy smile, because speaking at that moment would not have gone over well.

“Raymond sweetie, do you want to go somewhere before going home? I know how you like the mall,” Mrs. Hardy said in a pleasant voice. The only indication of her stress was her stone hard jawline protruding from behind her cheeks. But Ray didn't seem to notice.

“Okay! Can we go to the dollar store?” he asked excitedly. Young Ray seemed to be excited quite frequently, and somehow, that excitement completely obliterated his short term memory. _In a way_ , Justin thought, _it might be better that way_.

“Of course sweetie,” Mrs. Hardy replied, making a sharp right turn onto a main road.

 

* * *

 

 

“Phooey!” Ray shouted as he bounced on his bed.

“I don't think that's what an elephant sounds like,” Justin replied, laughing gently at the child who wouldn't stay still, jumping up and down on the mattress, flailing one arm in front of him like a trunk, while the other hand held down the dollar store elephant ears headband. The large ears were comically huge, almost the size of Ray's head, and flopped in funny directions.

“You make an elephant sound then!” Ray challenged.

“eRowrrh!” Justin tried, simulating a flat trumpet sound. Ray made a silly face, giggling while denying profusely that Justin's was better.

“What about... Pfffhht,” Justin demonstrated, giving up on blowing air through his lips halfway through, just producing a fart sound in the end.

Ray giggled even harder, the sound of flatulation proving to be just as humourous to child Ray as it was to adult Ray. He made another silly face at Justin, the two of them rallying back and forth until they were both tired and Ray fell asleep, Justin leaning on him, not far behind.

 

_I love Ray's silly faces. It's a reflection of his carefree spirit and his surprising resilience against the loneliness of being unwanted. He created me to shield against the horrors of the world he lived in, didn't he?_

 

* * *

 

 

_I love Ki's silly faces._

_She woke up with a start as a heavy weight knocked the air out of her lungs. As her eyes tore open and closed immediately in order to hide from the blinding light of morning, she felt the weight bouncing as she repeatedly told Ki to get off her._

_When she finally opened her eyes though, he was waiting in front of her, tongue out (and slightly dry) with a goofy face on. The shock of being so close to such a face knocked the air right out of her lungs again, before more returned to fuel her morning laughter._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to make clear that I was not aiming to drabble on this one. 
> 
> This is not a failure, _I repeat_ , not a failure to drabble.
> 
> (Also I'm sorry for the lame bullying. I don't know how kids are supposed to be mean to each other anymore. Also it hurts me to hurt little Ray)


	12. Day 11 - Wearing Onesies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they are teenagers and have some (a lot of) sex in onesies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry.  
> It was a stupid joke - "buttflap buttsex"  
> And then this turd happened. 
> 
> (For all intents and purposes, Ray and Justin are both 18)  
> (This this my first time writing smut. Be gentle.)

"Oh my God. JUSTIN. WAKE UP!" an excited, familiar voice sounded before his chest took a light beating.

He cracked his eyes open. Purple ceiling. Justin groaned. _Still not home._

A teenager with shaggy black hair and bright hazel eyes poked his head into view, framed by the violet canvas above. It was a pretty picture, Justin had to admit.

"Justin! I'm young again!" Ray exclaimed before jumping up and down on the bed before tucking into a front flip, landing perfectly on the ground. He struck a pose of victory before falling back onto the small bed, Justin taking collateral damage when Ray flopped down bonelessly between him and the wall. "I forgot how unfit I was at this age."

Justin listened to Ray’s heavy, uneven breathing for a while, a small laughter bubbling up from inside him. For someone who consistently underestimated himself, Ray also never seemed to know his own limitations.

“Scrawny idiot,” Justin muttered, his voice slightly scratchy and still a little higher pitched than normal. It annoyed him a little, but he got over it quickly enough. Ray, however, fell into a fit of giggles at the sound, ready to tease his boyfriend to no end about the way his voice sounded. Unfortunately, he forgot how much he used to snort when he laughed.

“Dude, did you just snort?” Justin asked. Now it was his turn to laugh.

Ray turned an unnaturally deep shade of red, turning over to hide his face against the wall. Justin turned him around to plant a kiss on his firmly closed lips of embarrassment.

“It’s fuckin’ adorable.”

Ray gave a huge smile, kissing him back eagerly this time. Justin leaned back, pulling Ray with him until the boy straddled him from above, languidly deepening the kiss. The world seemed to fizz away at the edges, focus zeroing in until there was nothing but each other. Distantly, a voice permeated the walls of their concentrated world.

“Ray, Justin, stop fooling around and come down for breakfast!”

Both their eyes shot open, Ray’s impossibly wide, as if he completely forgot that _they were in his house_. “Okay mom! In a bit!”

He took another moment to look down at Justin, elbows framing his tan face, fingers brushing through his hair. It was a darker shade than he had ever seen.

“You’re young too,” he breathed. “You know what’s weird?” Justin let out a soft, questioning hum. “I’ve only seen you in your twenties, I’ve never seen you at any other age.”

“So you remember?” Justin asked instead of responding to Ray’s comment..

“Remember what?” Ray returned with his own question, curious eyes studying the way the light shifted in Justin’s eyes, losing himself in chasing the little streak of golden brown across the ponds of darkness.

“Nevermind, it was a dumb question.” Justin figured it would be best to leave the previous day alone. It didn’t seem like Ray had any recollection of it, but he was glad he didn’t have to skirt around a teenage Ray this time.

“Alright then, you weirdo,” Ray dismissed easily, giving Justin another quick peck before getting up and shuffling through his drawers to refresh his memory of the clothing he had owned at the time. His clothing was largely a mass of black T-shirts and dark jeans, embellished with artistic skulls and bursts of neon. _Punk phase_. He had to admit, it was nice to revisit dressing like that. He grew out of the phase halfway through senior year, but sometimes he missed it.

As he hopped into his favourite jeans, he picked up two T-shirts and turned around.

“This one, or this one?” Justin pointed to the right one – a black shirt featuring a crowd of overlapping, yellowing skulls with gold-rimmed shades on. “Alright then.” He swiftly changed into it, throwing on a few spiked bracelets and gothic cross necklace that were sitting on top of the dresser, finishing the look off with a gray toque over his frizzy bedhead.

“That look is going to take some getting used to,” Justin piped up. “But… it’s kinda hot.”

“Are you sure it’s not your teenage hormones speaking?” Ray asked with a smirk.

“Maybe.” Ray seemed so happy to be young again, Justin didn’t have the heart to tell him that he didn’t feel much of a difference. Perhaps it was because it had been too long since he had been a teenager that he forgot how it felt like to be one again, but he truly did not feel any differences on the inside.

 

* * *

 

Breakfast was a lot better than the day before – for one, Justin actually got to _eat_. He had silently prayed that Ray's mother would recognize him as an actual human being this time, and she had. She had aged significantly since the last time he saw her; her attitude was not as cheery, but there still existed an everlasting gentleness in her smile and her every move. It was a startling contrast against Ray, although he didn't quite carry the begrudging demeanor that usually accompanied his attire.

They found out that it was a Saturday. Throughout breakfast, the boys suppressed their displays of affection around Ray's mother, but that didn't stop them from playing a subtle round of footsie. After slowly finishing their breakfasts of bacon and eggs, they slowly walked to the mall, hand in hand, receiving a few weird looks from people around them. Ray didn't know what the consequences would be in being seen by his friends like this, but he wasn't about to waste any time with Justin by worrying about it. Midway through the mall trip, they came across a display of onesies. Ray’s eyes lit up with inspiration and a blush spread through Justin’s cheeks as he groaned in realization. Three minutes later found Ray beaming in a new bunny onesie, the cottonball tail bouncing up and down while he dragged an embarrassed Justin in an equally new bear onesie around the mall.

 

* * *

 

“Can we go back to your house now?” Justin began to whine. _Okay, maybe I_ _ **do**_ _have teenage tendencies_.

“No, I'm not done showing you off yet.” Ray seemed oddly prideful of their attire, waving with a smile to every person that passed them, smiling exceptionally big to the ones that threw them an unpleasant look in passing. Justin hid his face against Ray’s shoulder, wishing he could just disappear. _I’m not usually_ _ **this**_ _embarrassed, hopefully just teenage hormones..._ He promptly decided that being a teenager still sucked major ass.

“Can I at least go to the washroom?” he mumbled against Ray’s shoulder.

“No one's stopping you,” Ray retorted before dragging him off to the public washrooms.

 

* * *

 

“How do I piss with this on?? Do I have to take the entire thing off?” Justin yelled from inside the stall. Thank God they were the only two in the washroom.

“Just use the buttflap!” Ray replied easily, as if it couldn't be more obvious.

“Yeah okay,” Justin said, pulling the stall door open. “Let me just pull my penis back under my ass and sit on it. A fuckin buttflap isn't going to help me _pee_!”

“Why don't you just try it?”

“Why don't I just try yours?” It was just a simple, innocent, instinctual comeback; but Ray picked up on the connotations and ran with it, licking his lips as he stared back at Justin. The moment Justin looked back, something clicked in both their minds. They were undoubtedly thinking the same dirty thing. They scrambled out of the stall and ran out of the mall, racing each other back to Ray's house at such a speed that Ray's poor teenage body was winded by the time they reached his house. The neighbours sure seemed surprised to see a rabbit and a bear running down the street.

 

* * *

 

"Mom, we're gunna take a nap before dinner, so don’t bother us!" Ray yelled distractedly as he rushed Justin upstairs.

Once his mother gave her affirmation, he walked up as calmly as he could, trying not to give away his eagerness in the sound of his steps. He had barely come within reach of the door when he was tugged inside and turned around to rest against the door that quickly clicked shut.

Time seemed to slowed down from there on - or perhaps, they had regained some sense of maturity. They had decided to abandon their boxers when they put the onesie on, and now Ray felt the strain of his erection against the warm fabric of the onesie. _Nope, time was definitely moving slower..._ He whined as he rolled his hips, trying to get even the slightest bit of contact. Justin, ever the tease, backed away until the only parts of him that were touching Ray were the hands that pinned him to the door by the shoulders. Ray reached out to make pathetic attempts at grabbing Justin, finally finding purchase near Justin's chest, where the onesie had taken a baggy effect since the front sagged down when Justin arched away from Ray.

He tugged him in, forcing Justin's elbows to buckle and give in. Ray thrusted against Justin once more, this time humming in satisfaction at the long awaited relief. He let out a suppressed breath before Justin leant back with a smirk again. He just stood there, staring.

"What now?" Ray whined.

"You look stupid," Justin commented coolly.

"You're an asshole," Ray returned on impulse.

"With a _bear_ y nice cock?"

"That was fucking terrible."

"Oh come on, I'm a _roar_ with every _bunny,_ especially this one," he completed with a wink, playfully tugging on Ray’s rabbit ears to emphasize the point.

"Stop it, you're killing the mood." It was the truth, but that didn't stop the sliver of a smile from appearing on Ray's face.

"It’s like you don’t _carrot all_ about my feelings,” Justin pushed with a knowing smile on his face.

“ _Justin,_ ” Ray whined, “ _Can you leave your stupid puns and just fuck me please?_ ”

“Since you asked _so nicely_ …” Justin said with a hungry, almost predatory look in his eyes, making Ray shudder with the promise of pleasure. He slightly flinched away instinctively when Justin moved forward quickly to take him by the hips and capture his mouth with talented lips. Ray sighed against him, leaning heavily into the door he was still pinned against, arms resting on top of Justin's shoulders to hold him somewhat in place.

Justin's hands roamed lower, fingertips tapping along the fluffy fabric that tented at the center, eliciting a small intake of breath from Ray every time the fabric sank to touch the tip of his penis. A low whine droned on from Ray's throat, their lips never separating for more than a second for air. Justin's fingers moved from the teasing bounces to Ray's ass, gripping it tightly and grinding forward, both of them letting out an unexpected moan when their lengths lined up to create the perfect friction. In that moment, a familiar ache of desire fizzled into Justin's body, but it was accompanied by an unfamiliar sense of heightened pleasure in Ray's every touch. At this point, he wasn't sure either of them could last much longer and laid off the teasing.

Pulling his lips away finally, both of them caught their breath as Justin laced his fingers between Ray's, urging him to follow to the small bed. For what it was worth, the dingy mattress was actually extremely comfortable; Ray flopped on eagerly – fully laid back and making grabby hands at Justin, signaling for him to join him. Instead, Justin commanded him to turn around and get on his hands and knees. Ray did as he was told, turning and displaying his ass to Justin. Justin gave it a light slap before a gentle smoothing – making Ray let out a surprised gasp before leaning back into the touch. Justin then walked Ray back near the edge of the bed, grinding against his ass. Ray could faintly feel the hardness rubbing between his cheeks through the two layers of fabric, Justin's hands periodically tightening around his hips when he let out a breathy moan.

He quickly unbuttoned the rectangular piece of the onesie, pulling it down by the tail and taking a moment to appreciate the sight of Ray's young, firm ass – as if on display in the small quadrant created by the absence of the flap. His asshole looked tight, puckered and untouched, his butt cheek slightly red from the previous slap.

“Lube?” Justin asked impatiently.

“In the second dresser drawer,” Ray replied almost instantly.

“How do you still remember?”

“...I used to jerk off a lot.”

Justin accepted the answer with a laugh, going to retrieve the lube. Sure enough, it was sitting in the second drawer. He found the bottle of lube and the box of tissues but no condoms.

“No condoms?”

“Like I said, used to jerk off a lot.”

“Looks like we're barebacking it,” Justin stated nonchalantly. Secretly, he was slightly more than a little happy about it.

On his way back to the bed, he unzipped the suit, freeing his leaking erection. The clear liquid ran down the side of his tip, tempting him into giving it a quick stroke – which lead to two more. He stood stark naked while pouring some lube on his fingers, rubbing them together to warm it up a bit. He smeared some around Ray's hole before slowly pushing a finger halfway in.

“Shit, Ray. You're really tight. Have you had sex before at this point?”

“No,” came the quiet answer as Ray whimpered softly into the pillow he was currently face down in. His ass remained higher up, even pushing back on Justin's finger as he got over the slight initial pain and got used to the length. Justin thrusted the finger in and out slowly, his other hand holding tightly onto Ray's hip side. When Ray demanded 'more', Justin obliged and added a finger. The stretch was still slightly painful, but not as bad as the first one. The third finger was when Ray felt ready and comfortable, now loudly demanding for Justin to 'just get on with it.'

Although his cock was standing at the ready, perhaps even more eager than Ray was to get on with it, Justin decided to assert his dominance by angling his fingers to hit Ray's prostate. Ray let out a surprised yelp that was interrupted by a loud moan that was – thankfully – mostly muffled by his pillow. He slumped against the bed bonelessly, sliding off of Justin's fingers in the process – Justin admiring the way his asshole clenched around the sudden nothingness, looking for something to hold on to.

“Did you just cum?”

“Yeah... It doesn't take much, you should know that.”

“Well I guess I'll just jerk this out to the sight of you.”

“Just give me a second, I'll be good to go in a few.”

 

* * *

 

Ray wasn't lying. A few minutes later, Justin found himself buried all the way inside of Ray. He could feel the convulsions of Ray clenching and unclenching around him, trying to get used to the full length of him. He had a pretty average sized dick, but he figured Ray was already pushing his limits on his first time. The onesie didn't help, only intensifying the heat that reverberated from both of them. Justin draped himself over the smaller teen, pulling back the hood by the rabbit ears before nibbling softly on Ray's ear, whispering encouragements and reassurances.

“Take your time, love.”

“You know I'm fucking impatient.”

“I can wait; I want you to be ready for it, because I won't go easy on you.” He felt the shiver that ran down Ray's spine.

“You just feel so big inside me, it didn't feel this big last time,” Ray whimpered.

“Probably cause you weren't a fucking whore at this point,” Justin pointed out, only half seriously. Ray stiffened when the word 'whore' left Justin's mouth, letting out a breathy moan that Justin barely caught.

Ray made a pathetic attempt at defending himself. “I...”

“You like it when I call you a whore?” He got the exact same reaction from Ray.

“Maybe...” He hid his face back in the pillow.

“I bet you spent a lot of days with your fingers up your ass when I worked late, didn't you?” Ray mewled in slight affirmation. He seemed to relax around his dick too. Justin gave him a small, questioning tap. Ray propped himself up a bit and nodded, which Justin took as a cue to get up and continue.

“Did you pretend they were me, fucking you in the ass like _this_?” Justin pulled out halfway, and pushed back in quickly to punctuate his question. Ray let out a small moan, already struggling to stay on his elbows.

“Or do you have a dildo stashed somewhere in the apartment for your slutty fantasies?” Ray hid his face against his arm, and Justin made a mental note to figure out if Ray actually had a dildo, since the image of Ray fucking himself on a dildo was almost too much for him to handle. Justin slammed into Ray harder, faster, grabbing roughly onto the white fur that rippled with the vibrations of every thrust. His dyed black hair bounced haphazardly, slapping against the headboard as the teen was slowly pushed further up the bed. Justin tried to pull him back down towards him, hoping to find a good angle to hit Ray's prostate at the same time.

Justin's dirty talk devolved to match the incoherent swears and murmured names that slipped occasionally from Ray's mouth as he felt himself reaching climax.

“Justin, I'm gunna cum again,” Ray warned in a shaky breath.

“Me too,” Justin told him, readying to pull himself out soon.

It was quiet, but Justin heard it. “Cum inside me.”

“What?”

“I said,” Ray clarified, still breathing heavily as Justin refused to slow down. “I said, I want you to cum in me.”

It was all Justin heard before his vision momentarily flashed white after rubbing against Ray's prostate a little harshly, dizzily coming down from his high to the tune of Ray's second orgasm.

Ray felt Justin's heat inside him, the sensation a little different than the very few times they had sex together. He felt the heat spread beyond the member still inside him. Justin leaned in to give him a gentle kiss.

“Didn't hurt you, did I?” he asked with genuine concern.

“Not at all, love.” Ray gave him his dazzling, bright smile.

With that, Justin pulled out slowly, swiping some extra cum off with his fingers – smearing it on Ray's ass.

Ray let out a giant whine. “Justin, why'd you do that?”

“You've already got my cum inside you, figured it wouldn't make that much of a difference.”

“Well I was trying to save the bed from a mess. So far this onesie has been containing it all.”

“Good,” Justin replied, rebuttoning the buttflap before sauntering towards the shower.

“Wait, Justin! Can you carry me?”

“No, you have legs, you can walk!”

“Your cum is dripping out of me...” Ray complained unabashedly into the pillow. “It's gunna go down my legs and onto the carpet!”

“Should've thought of that when you asked me to cum in you, dude.”

“Well I was kinda too blitzed to think that far ahead!” Ray put on a pout, which worked manipulative wonders on Justin.

“ _Fiiine_ , you idiot.” Justin walked begrudgingly back to the bed, picking Ray up bridal style and plodded to the adjoined bathroom. Truthfully, Ray just felt weak in his legs. He probably could have made it to the bathroom without leaking anywhere, but he wasn't too confident that he had the strength to _walk_ there. Justin planted a soft kiss on his forehead before setting him down. Ray felt his knees buckle from under him, finding purchase on Justin's shoulder before he met the floor in an intimate way.

“You okay?” Justin asked, now seeping with concern for his boyfriend. Ray stood back up on his own.

“Yeah, just forgot how to use my legs for a second there.”

Justin let out a relieved laugh, turning around to turn on the shower, leaving Ray to finally strip naked.

Seeing Ray's body in all its glory had Justin excited again, and his lower region was eagerly showing for it. _Goddamn teenage hormones_.

“Round 2 in the shower?” Ray asked, waggling his eyebrows.

“You're on.”

 

* * *

 

After dinner, the two teens were exhausted. They laid together in bed quietly – pajama pants on, shirts off, toes intermingling and Ray tracing patterns on Justin's chest again. The tattoos had reappeared, and much clearer this time, much like a fresh tattoo of no more than a few years of wear. Ray focused on tracing every black line and dot. In the midst of curls, solid dots and long lines was a pattern that looked like an angry man with a curly goatee and a large hat. His lips were blocky and large, eye oblique, as if he were squinting with scrutiny. There were elongated ovals that looked to be feathers in his hair, or perhaps it was an ear with a large earring. The hat had a few layers, the top left looking kind of like a flower, the top right a small crown. What amused Ray the most was the cute little smiley face hidden within the hat.

“Your tattoo is cute,” Ray spoke mindlessly.

“I don't see how it's cute, he looks like he has a grudge with the world,” Justin replied.

“Well, there's this little happy smiley face,” Ray explained with a small smile, to which Justin reciprocated, while falling silent quickly afterwards. For a few moments, Justin thought he might have fallen asleep. After a few minutes of silence, Ray piped up again. “Do you know what it means?”

“Nope,” Justin said with a sigh.

“Oh well, I'm going to call him the secretly happy angry man.”

“How original.”

“Only a genius like me can come up with something like that,” Ray confirmed softly, yawning as exhaustion finally caught up with his scrawny teenage body.

“Alright then, Mr. Ego. Let's get some sleep now,” Justin suggested gently, voice brimming with mirth. He reached over to turn off the lamp on the bedside table.

“Thanks for today, Justin. It was nice to revisit...Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings,” Ray murmured sleepily.

“Me too, Ray, me too,” Justin replied just as softly.

“Goodnight, asshole.”

“Night, idiot,” Justin whispered before placing one last kiss on Ray's mess of black hair that covered the top of his head.

_I love how Ray isn't afraid of judgment. He makes it disappear. He can prance around in a silly rabbit suit and turn the odd and disdainful stares into warm smiles and awkward waves. He can coax me into having sex with him in that thing, for God's sake._

_He doesn't just ignore it, he takes it on._

 

* * *

_I love how Ki isn't afraid of judgment._

_She watched him strike a pose on his makeshift platform, a stack of hay balanced on his head. The children had all laughed at him when he had accidentally set all of his hair on fire. But he just smiled at them and told them it meant he could finally have any hairstyle that he wanted!_

_So here they were, gathered around his platform, watching him show off his new hair._

_He just brushes off any judgment with a smile and a way to make himself laugh._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good lord I don't know if I'll ever write detailed smut again because that was awkward. 
> 
> (That is a lie I have more sex lined up. This is why I hate myself)
> 
> Needless to say, I didn't try drabbling for this chapter either.


	13. Day 12 - Making Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Justin has to go to work alone and misses Ray a lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying for drabble this time. ><

Justin couldn't deny that he was happy to see the boring beige of their apartment ceiling when he woke up. As much as he liked being young again, he still felt far more comfortable in his adult body - he _has_ been wearing this unchanging skin for centuries after all.

What he wasn't so happy about was the injury Ray had sustained while on their two day trip away from adult life.

"I still feel fucked silly. My legs feel like jelly," Ray had said, before he tripped over his cast immediately after getting out of bed.

"You're an idiot, you'd feel it in your asshole too if you were actually experiencing post-sex soreness," Justin had commented when he found Ray clutching his leg in pain on the floor.

"Are you feeling it yet," Ray had retorted flatly, almost comically from how his groans cut off to pure silence as he delivered his line in complete seriousness.

Justin's only response came in the form of gathering the idiot in his arms and placing him back on the bed gently. He had given him a small kiss and ignored the soft, wanting noise that escaped Ray's throat for getting ready for work.

The work day passed torturously slow. The only saviour came in streams of Snapchats from Ray that ranged from 'I'm bored' to 'Help me I'm stuck in the washing machine'. Sometimes Justin wondered just how Ray had survived to adulthood.

The end of the day dragged on. Justin felt like every interaction he had was operating at 50% speed. Now that he was almost home, time only seemed to drag even slower. But he rushed, and it was as if someone had finally pushed play when he got home and found Ray idly browsing through TV channels while sprawled out on the couch, leg in its cast.

Justin all but lunged at the distracted man who looked to be midway to sleeping already. He straddled him as carefully as possible, making sure to avoid the injured leg. Ray barely managed to let out a sleepy greeting before chilled lips were against his tea-warmed ones. Justin hummed contently at the faint, calming aroma that surrounded Ray before licking at his lips to taste them. Ray acknowledged it as a request and allowed him to delve deeper by parting his lips slightly. If Justin was being honest, he didn't know what caused him to feel the need to seize this moment. It could be as simple as not seeing Ray all day, or missing his partner in action, or as a faint thought echoed from the back of his mind - he was wasting away the time he had with Ray. But he silenced the thoughts as he focused just on Ray, how  _perfect_  he felt pressed against him, how gently he reciprocated every hungry nip, lick or press. It was amazing to him how Ray seemed to be able to take his breath away, without fail, no matter the situation. This was as ordinary and unremarkable as it could get, but Justin had never felt a stronger connection to his love for Ray. It was a swell that thumped against his chest so loudly he could hear it in every rush of blood to his ears. 

He sat up to breathe, still mindful of the leg, staring back at a dazed Ray. 

"Hello I guess," Ray greeted, smiling cheekily. "What's gotten into you?"

"Just missed you I guess," Justin breathed with a smile of his own.

_I love that Ray can make perfection out of the most mundane moments._

_I know we can do so many stupid, incredible and almost impossible things together. We're a team like that. And those are thrills I will remember forever._ _But it's these moments that prove that he can make me feel like I'm experiencing exclusive happiness and excitement in the most habitual situations. No matter how much I try to get used to it, I don't. I'm always surprised by the adventure that is Ray Hardy._

 

* * *

  

_I love that Ki can make perfection out of the most mundane moments._

_She admired the way he worked hard at scrubbing the clothes. It was a rare sight, to see Ki so quiet in concentration. She was used to the loud mouthed kid who brought others joy, but she stared in awe at the calm demeanor and soft humming of the boy in front of her. It was definitely baffling, but she could honestly say that it was a perfect sight._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohmygoodness 744 words :D 
> 
> Guys, _I did it._ I _drabbled_. 
> 
> You know what this means though right?  
> Confetti canons and long chapters incoming! <3 <3


	14. Day 13 - Eating Ice Cream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which lunch gets a little messy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? _Two_ chapters in two days??
> 
> I had quite a lot of free time today, so I put this together. I wasn't attempting drabble, but it ended up being on the short side..sorta. 901 words!

"Please?"

"No, we have to be at work."

"Just one scoop, I promise."

"No, we're already running late."

"I'm still injured! We can be a little late, they'll understand."

"Mhm, because we _always_ walk to work."

"You saw how long it took me to get in the car!"

"All the more reason not to go through the hassle of getting out and back in again for a scoop of ice cream."

"I hate you, asshole."

"Love you too, idiot."

Ray sat with a pout on his face, arms crossed and leant back, lifting his uninjured leg onto the dash. Justin slapped it back down, leaving Ray in an even poutier mood.

His sour mood continued on throughout the morning, staring discontentedly at Justin from behind his coffee mug.

When lunch break finally started, Justin muttered something about getting lunch for the gimp before calmly walking out. When he came back, it was in a much greater hurry, carrying a large take out bag and two small containers.

"Hurry up before it completely melts," he said with a pained grin, breathing heavily from the physical exertion.

"Looks like you also need some to cool down, love," Ray said with a bright smile, motioning for Justin to come to him. Ray had demanded to return to work, having been bored out of his mind all day - despite how lovely it was for Justin to ravish him the moment he got home - and the station had found him some extra paperwork for him to complete with Justin so he would stay put and stop further screwing up his leg. Ray pressed a gentle kiss to Justin's cheek before opening the containers and grinning even wider. Mint chocolate chip and black cherry, his favourites. They were still relatively solid;  _Justin must have really booked it_ , he thought. He looked between the containers in contemplation before Justin took the mint chocolate chip container.

Ray shot him the most bewildered look, to which Justin replied with a smirk, "Didn't think they were both for you, did you?"

Ray shook it off with a roll of the eyes, "I was going to give it to you anyways."

He dug into his own quickly, in definite contrast to the slow, controlled spoonfuls Justin was taking. It was only a matter of time before his spoon wandered into Justin's container. Instead of swatting his hand away, Justin allowed him to scoop some away before giving his arm a light nudge, causing Ray's spoonful of delicious green, cold goodness to land smack dab on his nose.

Ray whined in surprise protest, but quickly retaliated by rubbing his ice cream covered nose on Justin's cheek. Justin then took a spoonful and made the readying motion for launching it at Ray, catapult style. Ray turned away to avoid direct ice cream-to-face contact, turning back when he _felt_ a faint gust of cold air blow past his face as the small projectile whizzed past and hit the wall. He was certainly surprised when he was met with warm lips against his recently chilled ones, dropping the spoon he was ready to throw Justin's way. Instead, he melted against the man, closing his eyes and relaxing back into his seat, as if revisiting the night before.

"Ahem." The sound echoed in the suddenly quiet room. The woman at the door stood with a questioning but knowing look, eyebrow raised high in expectation at the sight of the two. "You two look like two teenagers in love. It's so sickeningly sweet, just like the current state of the office wall. Clean it up and get back to work!"

"But _Justin did it_ ," Ray whined, trying to get out of cleaning the wall.

"I don't care _who_ did it, Justin is cleaning it up because _you_ were given direct orders _not to move_ ," Martha said sternly, although the little quirk in her lip indicated otherwise.

"Aye aye captain. Also, we haven't even started on lunch yet, it's against the law to starve your employees, chief," Justin pointed out jokingly.

"Oh have your fucking lunch," Chief Sandova exclaimed with a laugh before turning on her heels and walking away.

The two men exchanged glances before bursting out laughing. Justin cleaned up the mess (but not before kissing the mint off Ray's nose) as Ray scooted closer to their lunch, revealing crafty homemade sandwiches and pop. They sat down together, Ray on Justin's lap, munching greedily on his sandwich while interjecting Justin’s bites from time to time.

Justin admired the simplicity of the moment.

_I love when Ray makes me share my food. It’s a reminder that I’m not alone, and a reminder that life doesn’t always have to be dull or be about getting the most for my benefit, but getting the most out of any given situation._

_Seeing the effect of food on Ray is one of the most marvelous experiences. Having eaten all types of foods for so many years, food has become repetitive and boring, but eating with Ray makes food interesting again._

 

* * *

 

_I love when Ki makes me share my food._

_She smirked as his little hand snuck into view, snatching a corner of the meat she was slowly devouring. She loved how the skin on his face stretched smooth and how his eyes grew wide while he feigned innocence. She let him have it, the boy was still growing, after all._


End file.
